Buffy the Love Goddess 2: Tomorrow
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: Well, for those that actually remember, this is the sequel to my first fic, popular as it was, Buffy the Love Goddess. Rated PG for strong language and implied themes. Ripper and Tara's turns to be gods.-ABANDONED-
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**  For the sequel; "Ripper, the War God," again pretty much all of the characters are based on the television series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," produced by Joss Whedon and associates, as well as owned and distributed by Warner Brother's television network, in association with Rysher, and Mutant Enemy Inc.  The concept of Anton, the character of Joshua the Archangel, are of my own visage, but any to all relation between them and the Buffy characters is entirely fiction devised for the sole purpose of people's enjoyment of Fanfiction.

**Ripper:  The War God; ****The Next Day**

**Chapter One**

          Tara awoke, feeling like she was missing something, with the sun in her eyes.  Blinking back the bright light, she raised herself to a sitting position, realizing that she was in hers and Willow's room.  Only Willow wasn't there.

          As soon as she started to panic, Tara began to remember the events of yesterday, and Buffy's promise.  She smiled as she remembered some of the dreams that she had had after reading the book that Buffy had allowed her to understand and read.  It really was a fascinating collection of stories, and she could only guess as to how many were true, and how many might have been exaggerated a little, considering that it was all about gods and goddesses.

          _'Well, that explains the feeling that I was missing something,'_ Tara thought to herself as she got out of bed.  _'I haven't even slept without Willow since the fight with Glory, much less woken up without her.  It's strange, even though I know she's my mother, I love her just the same.  I guess that's the funny thing about love, it doesn't care who or what we are, just that we are together and happy.'_

          Tara found the book that she had been reading practically all day yesterday on the bed beside her.  She didn't really remember falling asleep, but she did remember finishing the book.  Going over all of the names of all of the gods in Anton.  Some, one in particular, Joshua the Archangel, she knew would have stayed behind because of the roles that they played back home.  'Back home,' she mused.  "I've only known about it and my real self for a day, and I already think of it as home," she thought aloud.

          Getting out of bed, Tara spent the rest of her time getting ready in silence.  Taking a shower, eating a small bowl of cereal in the room, brushing her teeth, choosing an outfit and getting dressed.  Smiling as she reflected on her and Buffy's visit yesterday, when the young love goddess was choosing her own outfit for the day, Tara realized that she had actually enjoyed the time with her "aunt" and could hardly wait until she could do similar things with her own wardrobe.  It would definitely make getting ready in the morning and choosing an outfit a little easier.

          Sighing with a happy content look on her face, Tara chose a flowing brown cotton skirt, matching sandal shoes, and a white silk sleeveless blouse, and putting one of her white sweaters over that.  Smiling, she realized that she too followed in Willow's fashion of long skirts and sweaters, as Buffy had said.  _'Must be a mother/daughter thing,'_ Tara mused silently, smiling.

          Noticing the time, Tara knew she had to get moving, or she'd be late getting to the Magic shop.  Taking a bag, filled with the book and a couple other things, she left her room and walked down the hall to the stairs.  On her way she saw one of her "neighbors", Katie Reed kissing with her boyfriend in the hall.

          "Hi Katie," she greeted, "Good morning John, how are you two today?"

          She was mildly surprised that neither answered, instead giving her curious looks, but she was in far too good a mood for something as minor as that to get her down.  She walked, almost skipping to the Magic shop, getting there about 9:27, a little later than she wanted to get there, but hopefully not before she could miss anything major.

_*                 *                 *                 *_

          About an hour before Tara woke up, just as dawn was breaching the horizon, Buffy slowly awoke, feeling as though something were not quite right.  She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings.  She blinked and closed her eyes tight before opening them again.  Rubbing her eyes when what she saw didn't change, she slowly sat up, wondering what the hell was going on.

          She was in her room, _her_ room, in her house that she had lived in for the past five years.  The house that she had shared with her mother and Dawn.  No, she realized, my mother's dead.  And I died saving Dawn, so where am I?

          Looking around, she saw that her room was exactly as she had left it, just before going on the run from Glory with Dawn.  Glory?  A demon god.  Then everything from yesterday's events came back to her in a flash.  She was momentarily confused that she had thought of herself as Buffy Summers rather than Buffy the Love Goddess, but she wasn't concerned.  She woke up in Buffy Summer's house, so having been Buffy Summers; it was easy for her to get confused.

          Then Buffy remembered the events of last night, smiling as she recalled seeing Maxabl, and talking with Spike.  Her smile broadened as she recalled what had happened after Joshua had teleported them all here last night.

          Willow and Dawn were acting like two tired, whining toddlers who had their candy taken away, (Funny because it just had been), and Buffy had asked Joshua for an assist, since she was trying to boost her energy, not keep it empty.  Joshua had come over, given her a quick hug goodnight, and then with Buffy holding onto both girls arms, he teleported them to the Summers' residence.

          Joshua's teleportation was very different from Buffy's, which might have been why Tara had made such a noise about it yesterday morning.  While the Love goddesses flashy red and gold transport was made to feel like the most intense and bone chilled experience ever felt by the human body, Joshua's was made to be more…like him.  He was an Archangel, a being of love, warmth, and power.  His white aura flash began as a feeling of gentle and pleasurable warmth that spread throughout your entire body, like being wrapped in blankets with somebody you truly love and trust.  Then, as you reappeared, it felt like a cooling, refreshing spring breeze blows over your entire body and takes away the warmth, but in such a way that you are left tingling with incomparable pleasure and relaxation as your atoms recomposite.

          When they appeared in a flash of white light in Buffy and Dawn's living room, between the TV and the coffee table, Dawn and Willow were practically jumping up and down like preschoolers.  "OH Buffy!  THAT was SO COOL!!" Dawn shouted to her sister, who was still right beside her.

          "Yeah Buffy, that was a whole lot different from what you feel like when you teleport!" Willow analyzed somewhat loudly, not exactly sounding like herself.  "How come that is?"

          Buffy raised an eyebrow and decided that she didn't feel like answering that right now, and as it was she barely had enough energy to get these two to bed, not to mention have a long drawn out conversation on how her powers worked.  She didn't know _how_ they worked, she just knew they worked, and that was more than good enough for her.

          "Not right now Willow, it's time to get you two to bed," Buffy commanded, dragging the two young women by the arms up the stairs.

          "I don wanna," Willow whined, sounding very much like a tired two-year-old.

          "Me either," Dawn echoed, sounding identical.

          Buffy merely remained silent and continued to pull the drugged girls along.  She knew that it was unfair, but she was in absolutely no condition, nor mood to be coddled by her sisters, plus she didn't entirely trust Willow to not sneak off and try and visit Tara in the night.  This way, she would make sure that these two would sleep, she would keep her promise to Tara, and she could eat until one, eating everything in the house.

          As for drugging Anya, wellllll, she had known that the girl was obsessed with sex ever since she had discovered it in her human body, probably not something she had gotten that much of when she was human before, so she figured she do a favor for her soon to be sister-in-law.  Plus, she knew Xander might actually enjoy himself.  She would have checked up on them, if not for the fact that she had issues about spying on her brothers and sisters when they were doing it, and she had secretly promised Joshua before he teleported them.

          She put Dawn down in her bed in the young girl's room, and decided that she would put Willow on her bed for now.  Then she went downstairs, only to find Willow following her.  She chuckled despite herself and let the little wicca do what she wanted.  When she finally passed out, Buffy would decide where to put her for the night.

          Opening the fridge, Buffy noticed that Xander had gone shopping for Dawn, as had Giles, and from the food choice, so had Willow.  So grabbing all the 'no need to prepare' items first, she went to the kitchen island and started snacking.  Willow, thinking that this was more 'treat' food, tried to get some but Buffy playfully slapped her hands away whenever she did.  Willow pouted, but finally stopped trying, and instead just started talking.  Buffy listened, since Willow seemed to be in "run-down babble mode".

          After a while, Buffy having finished half the products in the fridge and hearing about how Angel was doing, how everyone had coped with her death, about all the lawyers and stuff, and how Giles had finally been able to buy Dawn's home and put it in the minor's name, and how school was going and how Tara was healing up nicely from her ordeal and that she was looking forward to becoming a goddess again and she hoped how she wouldn't be so paranoid this time and…well, you know how it goes.

          Buffy was amazed that she was actually able to stay awake herself through all of it, and she truthfully listened to every word Willow was saying.  Something that she normally could have never done, something that truly only a goddess could do.  After moving on through several sandwiches and prepared meals that would have filled the entire Initiative, demons included, Willow was still talking and Buffy was still listening, though the exhausted redhead was laying her head softly on her hands on the counter with her eyes closed, she continued to babble.  Finally, when the babble turned to incomprehensible mumbles, Buffy finished up her midnight snack, (SNACK?  Are U Kidding ME??!!!), and proceeded to pick Willow up like a little child being taken to bed by her parent.

          She put her gently next to Dawn and tucked them both in, and surprised herself when she yawned.  Stretching slightly, she went through the house, securing everything, and turning off what needed to be.  Then, with a little trepidation, she went to her own room and without much bother to look around, went straight to bed and was asleep in moments.  Yes, gods sleep!

          And now she was awake, and smelling something burning.  No, not burning, _cooking_!  She quickly walked down the hall to Dawn's room, only to find it completely empty.  Shrugging, she went downstairs following her nose to the kitchen, where she heard a familiar voice humming with a happy beat.  Pushing through the swing door, she saw Willow over the stove with pancakes and bacon sizzling.  _'Funny, I thought I had gotten everything last night,_'.  Then she realized that they had an extra freezer in the basement, and her mother, when she was alive, liked to keep various cooking meats down there for safekeeping.  After all, a living Slayer was a hungry Slayer.

          "Hey Wills, what's happening?" Buffy asked, announcing her presence to the red haired cook.  Willow half turned in surprise when Buffy spoke, smiling brightly when she saw who it was.

          "Hey Buffy, glad to see you're up!" she greeted cheerily, way to cheerily for somebody who had been up before dawn.  And judging from the stacks of pancakes and sheets of bacon on either sides of the tall young _college _woman, she had been up for quite a while.

          "Will, how long have you been up?  It looks like you've got enough food there to feed ten Slayers!" Buffy exclaimed, coming up behind the favored chef.

          "Or one goddess," Willow grinned as said goddess blushed in embarrassment at her unusual eating habits.

          Willow turned back to the stove to flip some pancakes just as Buffy asked, "I didn't know you could cook, where'd you learn?"  Willow shrugged and hesitated slightly before answering in a casual tone, "Oh, I learned when I was younger.  You know having an absent mom can create need for improvisation and opportunity on Saturday mornings."

          Buffy silently beat herself for bringing up something having to do with Willow's neglected life on this world.  But she was so much more loved than she realized, and not just by her, Xander, and Tara, but by all of the gods of Anton, not to mention almost all of the people that live there as well.  It was then that Willow decided to change the subject.

          "So, what was it exactly that you put in those treats last night?" she asked her "sister".

          Buffy blushed once more enough to match Willow's hair, and tried to avoid the question with another subject change.  "So, where's Dawn?  I put you two in the same bed, and she wasn't, actually nobody was there, so…"

          "Buffy." Willow put on the 'Resolve face'.

          Buffy lost some of the color and explained, or tried to, what she had put in the treats and why she had.  After she was done, Willow just shrugged and went back to cooking.  After a time, each moment the blond goddess expecting her best friend to blow up at her with some high moral argument, Buffy finally exploded from the overtax on her patience, and nerves.

          "Well?" she put out, exasperated.

          "Well what?" Willow responded calmly, finishing another batch of bacon.

          "Well?  Well, aren't you going to dig into me about how I shouldn't have drugged my sisters, and my brother's fiancée just so that I wouldn't have to deal with anything other than eating to my little petty heart's content?!!?" Buffy finished breathlessly.

          "Sounds like you're doing fine on your own from here," Willow commented, smiling mischievously.  Buffy's eyes widened and she let out a roar of impatient frustration at her sister.  Then she started to laugh at it.

          "So, how long have you been up?" Buffy repeated her earlier question.

          Willow shrugged again and poured some pancake batter.  "Several hours now.  I called, or tried to call Xander and Anya a little after Dawn and I woke up, around five-ish.  We didn't get an answer, so we tried a little later.  Still nothing, so while I was getting breakfast ready, I asked Dawn to go over to Xander's and see if they were awake yet.  She's only been gone about thirty or so minutes now." Willow explained rationally.

          "So, do you want to cook for a while?" Willow abruptly asked.

          Surprised, Buffy shook her head and declined.  "No, I don't think so.  You've had enough of my cooking for one week."

          Smiling, Willow replied, "I don't think that you'll drug this, besides, you'll be eating this too.  Not to mention we might actually have some leftovers.  Hey, it's possible," she said to Buffy's disbelieving glance.  "So why not?"

          Buffy just shrugged and tried to avoid Willow's glare.  She shrugged again and answered, "I just never got really into cooking.  And this isn't a 'Buffy-Slayer' thing, this is a 'Buffy-goddess of love' thing.  I tried cooking several times before, but every time that I have, I don't know, weird stuff happens."

          "Weird?" Willow asked, turning the stove off and taking everything off of it.

          "Yeah, like this one time, everything that I cooked, whoever ate it began to experience the emotions that I was having while I was making it, only magnified nearly ten fold.  Just be glad not many stayed for desert, when I was making out with my "at the time" boyfriend." Buffy explained.

          "Oh, well that's not so bad.  I mean, at least you haven't made anybody sick and die or anything like that.  Have you?" her voice suddenly took on that nearing squeaking range.

          Buffy smiled and shook her head.  A sudden thought came to her, and was out her mouth before she fully knew what it was.  "I think one of my past incarnations had the same fault in the kitchen, but she was, I mean I was so happy at the time that she…I went into the restaurant business and was the most popular chef in New York for a time."

          "Oh.  Wow."

          "I think I had a daughter…" Buffy trailed off, lost in her memory.

          "A daughter?" Willow asked, growing concerned.  Another daughter?

          Buffy smiled as she knew what Willow was thinking.  "No, not a godhood daughter, an earthly daughter.  If we were experiencing that lifetime rather than this one, she would be called my blood daughter, like Dawn in this life is my blood sister."

          "Oh.  Well, do you want to check up on her, see how she's doing?" Willow asked, always the optimist.

          Buffy smirked and shook her head sadly.  "No, I…I couldn't.  I-I…died when she was very young.  Almost Dawn's age I'd guess.  I don't even know if she's still alive."

          "Well, how long ago was this life time?" Willow asked, hoping for something within this century.

          Buffy just shrugged and muttered, "A long time ago…"

          "How long, Buffy?" Willow sternly repeated.

          Looking sadly at her friend, Buffy seemed to deflate slightly and answered, "Between the late sixties and late seventies.  I died about two years before I was born."  Willow was confused by that and asked, "Born?"  Buffy just gave her a "Drop it!" look and she did.

          "So, maybe this daughter of yours is still alive.  Why don't you want to check up on her?  It might be nice seeing her, and you two could play catch up." Willow was really getting into this match up former families idea.

          Buffy just shook her head and interrupted Willow before she could get on a roll.  "I told you Willow, I can't!  That was an entirely different lifetime!  I wouldn't, don't have any relation to this woman in any form, other than when I was a goddess inbetween lifetimes, I chose her grandparents to use as my parents.  And maybe I did have the matter in picking her father, but that was it!  I am Buffy Summers in this lifetime, not whoever I was then.  Willow, I'm sure that in your own previous lifetimes that you've had kids and families as a mortal.  So I'll ask you this, if any of them were still alive, would you want to try and find them and tell them that you were there mother or sister or daughter reincarnated?!  I didn't think so." Buffy didn't let the mousy redhead answer.

          "So why not?" Willow asked again, completely unfazed by Buffy's outburst.

          The blond goddess just sighed and shrugged her shoulders in defeat.  "I can't Willow, I just can't.  I mean, I don't even remember her name!  How am I supposed-it's Amanda." Buffy suddenly announced.

          "Huh?"

          "Her name.  I remember it.  It's Amanda," she answered.

          "I thought you said that you didn't remember it," Willow noted.  Buffy gave her another look and she shut up right quick.

          Buffy just sighed again, shaking her head free of forgotten memories of another life.  "Enough of that!  Just drop it.  We've got more important things going on.  Such as, why aren't we eating?" The goddess suddenly grinned, as did her sister/best friend as the taller woman handed over a tray of bacon and an impressive stack of pancakes.  Buffy, feeling much rested and full of energy, teleported them, all the food, and plates and utensils to the table in the dining room right next to them, just before digging in.

          "Oh, I forgot the syrup," Willow noticed from her seat.  "I'll be just a second, I know it's the kind that you like…"

          "Oh, don't bother," Buffy interrupted, and with nothing more than a gesture, the jar of raspberry syrup that had been in the refrigerator was suddenly on the table with a flash of pink light.  "And don't worry, Wills, it's the jar that you put in the fridge earlier."

          "Hey, how did you know…" Willow started.

          "…that you put it in the fridge?  And planned on having it out for when I woke up because you know that I love raspberries?" Buffy finished for her.  Wide-eyed slightly, Willow only nodded.

          Buffy shrugged, shoveling in another large bit of pancakes before answering.  "It's one of our powers," she began around the huge bit in her mouth.  "We can view the thoughts, or read the minds of mortals that we are close to.  Don't worry Will, we don't use it to like spy on you or embarrass you.  We just use it to get information quicker.  You know, like when Joshua first arrived and he needed directions to the magic shop, he just scanned yours and Tara's minds.  I did it myself when I was taking you to all your classes yesterday too."

          "Oh.  Wow." Willow repeated.  The rest of the time was spent in relative silence as they ate and finished the prepared breakfast.  Buffy was still eating when Dawn showed back up, along with Joshua as escort.

          "Hey Joshua!" Buffy greeted from the dining room as the two materialized in the front foyer.

          "Hello Buffy," he greeted somewhat stiffly.

          Buffy then noticed the look on Dawn's face was like that of someone sent to the principal's office.  Also, Joshua had both his hands on Dawn's shoulders, as though holding her to keep her from running away.  Willow entered from the kitchen and noticed the somewhat tense situation.

          "Um, hi Joshua.  Hey Dawn, what's up?" she asked, trying to keep a happy-go-lucky air about her.

          Joshua smiled back, but Dawn kept her face as stoic as possible.  "Something wrong, Joshua?" Buffy asked as she continuously stuffed her mouth and swallowing.  Joshua sighed in abject pity as he watched his sister stuff her face and just answered her with a question of his own.  "Do you know what Xander and Anya are probably doing at this very moment?"  Before either woman could respond to that he asked another, "And do you know that I found Dawn about just walk into their apartment, with the key they gave her, and probably not even knock?"

          Buffy froze and swallowed the food in her mouth, while Willow's eyes widened to beyond normal human measures and became very pale and sweaty like.  Buffy didn't even glance at Willow, who was behind her, and instead turned to Joshua.  Her voice precisely controlled, she asked, "Your point?"

          The two and, for the moment, only gods in the world stared at each other for a long time, maybe twenty seconds.  Then both Joshua and Dawn broke out into grins and Buffy knew that she had been played.  "Got you!!" Dawn shouted in an immature sisterly fashion, pointing at the goddess.

          "I repeat, your point?" Buffy asked again, though her tone spoke of her annoyed playful nature.

          Joshua just shrugged and let go of Dawn and sat at one of the side chairs at the table, and Dawn raced around to her own and began to grab as much of the food as she could take, before Buffy finished it all.  "Well, actually, I did find Dawn about to do as said, but Xander and Anya were completely conked out, after having only fallen asleep about, oh say an hour ago, and after a very busy night I might add," he paused to emphasize with his face the double meaning he was deliberately implying.  "Anyway, I woke them up myself about fifteen minutes ago, and they are getting ready to head for the Magic shop, as you eat."  Joshua felt like he was talking to a brick wall.  Actually, _any_ wall provided more of a conversational listener than the hoarding pink clad woman in front of him.

          "By the way, what are you wearing?" Joshua had to know as he fished out some pancakes for himself.

          Buffy paused in eating long enough to actually look down at the bedclothes she seemed to have materialized last night, without even realizing it.  It wasn't anything revealing, rather it was the usual shirt and pants pajama set.  It was also pink silk, with embroidered red hearts in several design choices.  Buffy just shrugged and glanced over what Joshua was wearing.  A white button-up collar shirt, light brown khakis, and white tennis shoes, with wing designs on the outward sides.  All in all, a very handsome outfit, despite screaming "goodie-two-shoes!" at anybody and everybody with enough sense to pay attention.

          "Pajamas," Buffy replied shortly between bites.  Then she gave a deliberate and investigating eye to Joshua's form commenting, "Nice outfit by the way.  Too bad all you get at home is a total of three."

          Joshua just smirked at his younger sister and helped himself to a small stack, compared to what the women were eating, of the flapjacks and the syrup and finishing it in about five times longer the time it took Willow to eat one stack of five.  They were ready to leave in about ten minutes.

          After finishing breakfast, Buffy was about to zap the plates clean back to the kitchen, but Joshua, seeing her thoughts, beat her to it and the table was clean with a flash of white light.  "Thanks Joshua," Willow offered as she stood up and went upstairs where she had a change of clothes and went to get ready for the day.

          Buffy meanwhile was glaring at her eldest brother.  Dawn, seeing the look on Buffy's face, and the obvious "ignoring" stare that Joshua was maintaining, she decided to join Willow in getting ready.  "I'll be ready in a minute guys, then we can get going, right?"  Not waiting for an answer, she raced up the stairs, hoping to hurry Willow before anything happened.

          Thirty whole seconds after the youngest Summers ran up the stairs, when both gods felt they were truly alone, Buffy stood up, continuing to glare at her elder.  "All right Joshua, give.  Something more is bothering you, and it's not that I didn't take care of myself yesterday, or that I drugged Anya and my sisters, or that it has anything to do with us here on Earth.  So spill it angel-dude.  What is wrong?" Buffy's voice switched from harsh and accusing to gentle and caring.

          Joshua just seemed to deflate in his seat, yet somehow unbelievably remained tense as ever.  "Gee, I wonder how you figured it out?" Joshua asked sarcastically.  Buffy only arched an eyebrow at him.

          When his sister offered no counter-response, he looked at her, somewhat of surprise on his face.  "Don't you feel it?" he asked in all seriousness.  At Buffy's confused look, he continued, "I know you aren't exactly a Quantum Physicist Buffy, but even a newby could feel this kind of disturbance.  It's practically singing throughout the air.  First of all, can't you still detect the waves of power from your own awakening yesterday afternoon?"

          At the biggest clue he could give, Buffy's eyes went wide with shock as she opened up with her ethereal senses and _felt_ the resounding "concussion" waves from the power that she released yesterday when had she accessed her godhood once more.  Realizing that that small spark of energy was not what had her brother so bothered about, Buffy paid a little closer attention to a sudden buildup of energy that seemed to have been invisible to her earlier.  Actually, thinking about it in reflection, she had been aware of the sudden energy buildup, she had just ignored it.

          Yet looking closer at it now, Buffy could see why Joshua was so worried.  There was _too_ much energy building up.  WAY _too_ much energy.  From what Buffy understood of her powers, when the gods released energy into the universe at large or even just small amounts, the energy spread out like ripples in a pond, moving both forward and backwards, and in any other direction that would be possible, through time and space.

This sudden build up of energy that was no doubt one of their own spoke of one of three things.  First, that she and Joshua along with at least seven other gods, not necessarily from their family decided to get together in the next two hours and blow up the solar system, or maybe even half the galaxy.  Since that was a complete _"Not gonna happen_", option two was that the Hellmouth opened up, and nine first circle demons decided to kill Joshua and half the world all at once in the same time period.  Third, and this was definitely the more likely option, more than just one god would be awakened that day, and within twenty minutes of each other.  Buffy tried to analyze the energies she was sensing, yet they were so conflicting that they almost seemed to merge together in a completely unrecognizable pattern.

"Still want to do this?" Buffy asked when she realized what Joshua was worried about.

          "Oh heck yeah," the archangel conveyed emphatically.

          Buffy smiled despite the sudden growing unease that she felt at this strange development.  "What do you think is going to happen?" she asked her elder, more experienced (in most things) brother.

          He just shrugged and turned away, giving him the look of a military mind at work.  Finally, after Buffy became slightly worried, his shoulders sagged and he turned back around and gave her more than enough of an answer with the look in his eyes.  "Oh," was all she could respond to the conclusion she had drawn from the data.  She sighed some herself and then a look of intensity came to her eyes, one that said that this woman was a fighter, a warrior, one who could and would be prepared for anything and everything.  Especially this.

          Before they could discuss anything further, Willow and Dawn came back downstairs, Willow having had a change of clothes from previous stay-overs, had changed to new clothes for the day.  Dawn wore a small pink short sleeve shirt with a daisy picture on the front, blue jeans, and black sneakers.  Willow was wearing some tight jeans that seemed better fitted to the shorter Buffy, and a green sweater turtleneck.  Both smiled upon seeing both gods still intact.

          "Ready to go?" Willow asked.

          "Yep," Buffy hastily quipped, and before anybody could tell, her pajamas had flashed off and she was wearing her outfit for the day.  A decent white mini-skirt, a matching light pink halter-top, and three inch white strap high heels.  With the ever-present gold locket, and her hair held back in a cute ponytail that left her shoulders bare, it gave her a youthful and almost radiant appearance.

          "Shall we?" Buffy asked her brother, holding her arm out like the gentlemen of old would do for ladies.  Joshua smiled, nodded, and looped his arm through hers, saying, "Ofcourse, my fair lady.  Would you care to do the honors?"

          "You honor me kind sir," Buffy played bashfully.  Then, she raised her un-looped arm, gestured in the air, and before the two mortals could register it, they and everybody else were standing in the middle of the Magic Shop.

          "Whu-what happened?!!" Willow screeched.

          "Uh, you appeared out of thin air?" Alexander tried answering his best friend/sister's question.

          Yet when the redheaded witch thought about it, it was probably the best answer that she could have gotten, and still understood.  "Oh," she mumbled and then came over to give Xander and Anya hugs.  She didn't exactly know why, but she felt like giving out hugs to just about everybody.  The two returned the hugs with equal vigor, though Xander did appear hesitant at first, having deduced what it was that Buffy had fed all of the girls last night, judging from both his and Anya's relaxed appearances.

          Then Willow turned to Giles, her mentor for the last however many years it had been, and her surrogate father figure when her own had ignored her.  "How ya doin' G-man?" Willow quipped, imitating Xander, in words if not tone.

          Giles turned briefly on her at using the accursed nickname that the youth named Xander had super-imposed on him, as much as he hated it.  When he saw her expression however, all trace of annoyance fled and he genuinely smiled at her, and soon they too were hugging.

          During all of this, the two gods had hung back, keeping to themselves as much as they dared.  Buffy suddenly felt a tingle in the back of her mind.  She glanced at the clock, it read 8:35.  Then she traced the feeling back to its source.  _Tara must have just woken up_, she mused as she found that the feeling she'd just had came from her connection, as well as the spell that she had cast on the young woman soon to be goddess again.  Strangely though, she also felt another strange sensation come from the building power that both Joshua and she had sensed, almost like the things were connected.  And if Joshua was right about this power buildup, which she was afraid he was, then they were definitely connected.

          Buffy looked Joshua in the eye, he smirked slightly and silently nodded.  "All right everybody, it's getting close to time, so gather around and we can go over the ground rules." He spoke over the babble of the quiet shop.

          "Also," Buffy interrupted, earning a glare from the archangel (which she promptly ignored), "there's something else that you need to know."

          "What's up Buff?" Xander asked straightforward.

          Buffy glanced at Joshua's glare with an upraised eyebrow before answering.  "Since this morning, and about an hour ago for me, Joshua and I have been sensing a buildup of power.  Our power if that helps you.  But that's not the important thing, since power such as this radiates both forward and backward in time, kind of like a ripple on a pond's surface.  That's not the problem."

          "Then what, may I ask, is the problem?" Giles rudely snapped out.

          Buffy put him back in his place with but a glance.  "The problem, _Ripper_, is the amount of power that it building up.  A normal awakening does indeed build up a large amount of power, not to mention releases a tremendous more.  But…but this much…" she trailed off.

          "There are three things that would cause this specific kind of buildup," Joshua continued for her.  "One, in the next forty-five minutes or so, Buffy and I along with half the mage legions of hell, all the wizards on the planet, and at least, heavy emphasis on _AT LEAST_, nine other gods, not necessarily from our family, get together, and decide to destroy the solar system in five minutes."  He let them soak that in for a moment before continuing.

          "Well, unless you're an insane madman that somehow got the powers of an Archangel and knows everything that nobody _except_ GOD could know and planning this for oh who knows how long after brainwashing Buffy, I think that is definitely **not** what this is all about." Xander joked at the suggestion.

          Joshua smiled good-naturedly, continuing.  "Second, that the Hellmouth opens wider than the entire continent of Eurasia, spits out half of Hell, and every legion of said kills every super powered entity on the planet using magic with the force of ten, thousand mega-ton thermonuclear devices in the next thirty to fifty minutes."

          "OK, big bad, but kinda unfeasible, so I'm gonna stand here hoping that that is also **not** what is gonna happen," Alexander nervously joked.

          Smiling further, Joshua finished, "Third and lastly, Ripper isn't the only god awoken today, and the second is awakened less than twenty minutes after him."  Silence greeted that statement with open arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

          "Come again?" Alexander asked the two gods.

          "Can't, you're not touching me, " Anya whispered huskily.

          Everybody spared a withering and disgusted glare at the sex-obsessed ex-demon.  "Anya, your scary," was muttered, surprisingly by Dawn.  What was even more surprising was Xander's lack of correcting remark that commonly followed Anya's moments of embarrassing tactlessness.

          Instead, he came up beside her, kissed her deeply and silently, but teasingly whispered back, "I…wasn't…talking…to…you……" giving her a wet kiss between each of his words.  When he turned back to his "siblings" she was left smiling and humming with a happiness that she had rarely known while she had been human, and even then it was only when she was with her Xander.

          "Now, back on topic," Alexander continued with a steady voice.  He repeated his expression of confusion and reiterated, "Come again?"

          Joshua sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily.  Buffy smiled brightly in approval of Xander's actions with his betrothed.  Finally, Joshua answered the question, "Another god will be awoken after Ripper.  Specifically some twenty minutes after him.  Unfortunately, we can't tell who it will be.  Too complicated."

          "But…but…but your…your GODS!!" Alexander shouted desperately.

          "Xander," Anya wrapped herself around her fiancée, "What's wrong?  I know, from partial experience, what Joshua is talking about, trust me.  When ethereal energies are building and combined with other conflicting ethereal energies, it's nearly impossible to separate and completely, let alone accurately, identify the sources.  I mean the only ethereal beings that could do it with any hope of success are angels or archangels.  And on the level of power that _this_ archangel is describing, I'm impressed that they can identify their own energy signatures in the buildup."

          Everyone was staring at the ex-vengeance demon after her brief explanation, the absolute most that she has made in a real compliment, while Alexander was feeling an enormous swell of pride that his girlfriend, _his **fiancée**_, knew about this stuff and had actually explained it without insulting anybody, and in fact complimenting his brother while showing concern for his own well being all at the same time.  Speaking of which…

          Kissing her in reward for being so smart, Alexander relieved his honey's fears, slightly, by sharing his own.  "You're so smart," he stage-whispered after finishing their kiss.  "But to be perfectly honest An…  It's just…it's just that…I'm kind of afraid that it's gonna be me that gets my godhood back, and…and I'm still not sure what its gonna be like.  After Joshua explained about the whole 'mortal can't come, gods only' rule or whatever it is last night, I've kind of thought out my priorities.  And you know what?" he whispered conspiratorially, "You, my little Anyanka, you were at the top of my list.  Now let me finish," Alexander said as Anya opened her mouth and as her eyes began to mist over.

          "Ever since I first met you, you were rude, tactless, selfish, and full of yourself.  I'd like to think you've evolved a little since then," he hastily added before anyone could comment.  "Now, you're outgoing, you're caring, your still a little selfish, but hey aren't we all?  Also, you are not afraid to speak your mind and you aren't afraid of what others think of you.  You say you love me?  I believe you with all my heart and soul.  So…will you believe me when I tell you…that I love you too?"

          "Two weeks ago, I asked you to marry me.  Two weeks ago, you said yes.  Yesterday, we find out that most of us are gods from another dimension.  So, I know you're gonna hate me for this, but youwannagetmarriedtoday?" he asked in a rush at the end.

          Before Anya could answer though, Buffy, grinning, decided to interrupt the most adorable display of love that she had ever witnessed, and being a Love goddess, that's saying something.  "Xander?  It's not you."

          Alexander was still staring into Anya's eyes, awaiting his beloved's answer as she stared right back into his.  When they heard, and understood, what she had said, both blinked and took a second to think it over.  Believing that Xander had asked to marry her today only because he would get his godhood back, Anya hung her head down and put the mask of apathy back on.  Alexander himself turned to stare at his best friend of more than five years, and also his sister, in disbelief.

          "What?  H-heh-how…  How…?" the dark lanky haired man stuttered.

          Buffy easily translated and gave him the technical answer first.  "Admitted, there is a huge amount of power building up…**_but_.**  But there is not **that** much power building up.  Joshua and I have identified Ripper's energy, and that's plenty power in its own right, but if it was one of the primary gods, or that is to say one of the gods born directly under our parents, then we would have been feeling earthquakes for over an hour by now.  In short, it's one of our kids, and of those in town, there aren't many options."

          Suddenly Alexander deflated from the tension that had built up within him.  "Ok," he muttered in pure relief.  Then he turned back to Anya, who was still holding her head down some, while Joshua asked to no one in particular, "How did we get to this subject again?"

          "So?" Alexander asked quietly to her.  She looked up, surprise clearly etched into her face.  "Wh-whu…what?" she stuttered in utter confusion.  Smiling, Alexander asked once more, though a little slower this time, "Do you want to marry me…today?"

          Blinking rapidly, as though to see if this were real, Anya stood in shock for a couple seconds, while all the girls in the room smiled or giggled in amusement.  While the guys all looked at their watches, manifested or not, at almost the exact same instant.  Anya shook her head and then, staring into his eyes, she asked in a soft voice, "Could you ask me that, just one more time?"

          Smiling even wider, Alexander abbreviated, "Marry me, today?  Right now even?"  With tears forming in her eyes, Anya put her arms around his neck and pulled him in for the best kiss they'd had since…well, last night.  "Well, not _right now_," Joshua muttered, but everyone heard him.  Buffy elbowed him in the gut and harshly whispered, "_Shut UP!"_

          When they came up for air, Anya was nodding almost non-stop and kept repeating, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…." After they broke apart, by maybe a foot or less, everyone, except Spike, Ripper…Rupert, and Joshua, who was rubbing sore ribs, all came up to congratulate the two, and at the same time plan a wedding in less than twelve hours.  But with two, maybe even three gods and an Archangel, it was argued that it would not be _that_ much trouble.

          However before any of the 'white wedding' obsessed people could get anymore revved up than they already were, Joshua tried to bring them back to the reason they were all here in the first place.

          "Ahem," he tried loudly clearing his throat.  No response.

          A little louder, he tried again.  "Ahem!"  Only Giles and Spike paid him any heed.

          Growing irritated, and it clearly showing on his face, Joshua let out a burst of underlying power and shouted at the top of human lungs, "SHUT!!  UP!!  AND!!  BE!!  QUIET!!  AND **LISTEN!!!**"  That more or less got their attention as all talking immediately ceased, everyone in the room just stood and stared at the seemingly quiet and gentle young man they had met yesterday, and Buffy was the quietest of all.  After a minute, it was clear that everyone was waiting for Joshua to continue, either with his tirade, or the reason for it.

          Gulping silently, and blushing furiously, the Archangel tried to save face by stepping up to the large meandered group.  They parted faster than the Red sea until he stood before the engaged couple.  Extending his right hand before Xander he muttered, audibly enough, the words, "Congratulations Alexander.  You have my full support and if you need anything for the wedding, all you have to do is ask."

          Then he calmly turned to Anya and leaned forward and down a little until he was at eye level with her.  He brought up her left hand with his right and gently and gentlemanly kissed the back of it and looked her in the eye as he said quite clearly, "Welcome to the family Anyanka.  I'd love to be the one to support both your marriage and passage to Anton, but luck would have it that somebody else has already beat me to the punch, as the saying goes."

          At everyone's confused looks, Xander was the first to ask, "Huh?  What do you mean Joshua?"

          Glancing around at the confused looks, Joshua just shrugged and walked back out to where they all could see him unhindered.  "Well…I found the loophole that Buffy wanted me to find," he answered succinctly.  At the further confused looks traveling about the room, rolling his eyes to the high heavens, Joshua let out an exasperated sigh before elaborating with, "She wanted me to find out how Dawn might actually be able to go with her and the rest of us gods when we go back to our own Realm?  Anya told Xander and the rest of the people there in the Principal's office yesterday?" As he mentioned this everyone's faces lit up with remembrance inspiration.  He slumped with the exaggerated relief of finally forcing the idea into everyone's heads.

          "So what is it?  What's the loophole?" Dawn asked in her childish curiosity.

          Joshua just shrugged and looked over at Buffy.  He then tapped on the watch that he had manifested a few moments ago.  She manifested her own gold charm watch and looked at the exact time.  Her eye bugged at whatever she saw, and without saying a word she vigorously nodded her head at her older brother.  He nodded back briefly and then closed his eyes in concentration.

          There were two _bright_ flashes of light, one a gray-blue mixed with Joshua's pure white, and the other a deep Royal Red mixed with the same whiteness.  After everyone's eyes started working again, they saw Joshua holding two swords of similar, but at the same time vastly different styles.

          They both were just over three feet long from tip to the pommel, with a leather strap hilt seven to eight inches long.  That was where similarities ended.  The sword in Joshua's right hand seemed to glow in an aura of red power and was quite beautiful.  The blade was double-edged and curved to the point at the tip.  The guard was a bronzed gold color and flared like phoenix wings on either side of the sword.  Each tip of the "wings" also had bright fiery rubies, possibly red diamonds, on both sides.  The pommel was round and held a much larger version of the red crystals, which also shown through on both sides.  At the center of the guard at the top of the hilt was a symbol that only two there could recognize, though Xander was definitely feeling a strange attraction to the sword.  Like a magnet, not a moth.

          The other sword seemed to glow in the bluish aura, though it was faded through with gray.  This sword also double-edged, but it seemed more scuffed, more rounded.  Like it had been put through very much use over its years.  It was a dark blade, almost all could see or tell that just from looking at it.  The guard looked like obsidian crystallized bat wings that extended to each side, and the hilt was just as black.  The pommel, for those that could see it, was a similar crystallized black skull.  All in all, while the red sword looked beautiful, the blue sword looked just as deadly.  And despite that, Giles was just as attracted to this blade as Xander was to the other.

          "I don't think I have to tell you which sword belongs to who," Joshua commented, tossing the black hilted sword to Giles, who easily caught it, and the golden hilted one to Xander, who had to untangle himself from Anya before clumsily catching the beautiful weapon.

          Xander brought the sword up to eyelevel and stared at it.  Anya came up beside him and joined him in staring at it.  As much as she knew it represented Xander's life changing and the possibility of her losing him, she could not deny how beautiful it was.  Plus, she too felt a small tug of attraction for the weapon.  Joshua made note to remember that.

          "So, uh, what do we do now?" Xander asked, continuously staring at the sword in his hands.

          Joshua shrugged and answered, "Just keep them with you for now.  You'll figure it out when it's time.  Don't worry.  Trust me," he added when they looked up at him.

          "All right Joshua, that's taken care of," Buffy spoke up.  "Now get back to the loophole you've found."  That brought _everyone's_ attention back to the archangel.

          Joshua nodded and began to explain what he had found out.

          "It is really rather simplistic, which is probably why I didn't see it at the very first," he began.  "Basically it works in several different ways.  Mortals can travel and company, or go with, the gods if even just one of three things applies.  First, children.  If you have children here and want them to travel with you and live with you wherever that may end up being, they are allowed to go with you, you being their sponsor."

          Joshua paused at the looks he was getting from around the room.  "I know in this case it doesn't really apply, but I have to make sure you understand all the options.  All right?"  They grunted and gave general sounds of approval.  Joshua nodded himself and continued.

          "Next, is if they are blood kin, like a close mother or father, or as this case is, sister.  Now before you celebrate, the third option is for you to be married to each other, preferably before your godhood reawakens." He finished, looking at the pair soon to wed.

          "So that means…?" Anya trailed off.

          Joshua, smiling broadly, nods and proceeds with, "And I will be happy to conduct the ceremony myself.  Can't get much more authority on it than an Archangel, can you?"

          Anya suddenly squealed happily and gave her husband to be a big wet kiss on the side of his cheek and then ran forward and draped herself from Joshua's neck.  "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou-thankuthankuthanku!" Anya started saying over and over again to the Archangel.

          "You are more the welcome Anyanka.  Now, to the wedding business…" Joshua was saying before he was suddenly interrupted.

          A sound louder but similar to thunder sounded through the small magic shop, quickly followed by a very large gust of wind that made yesterdays seem like a warm spring breeze.  Another sound of thunder passed before anybody could register what was happening.

          "What's happening?" Willow shouted over the wind as she covered her face from it.

          Buffy and Joshua, seemingly totally unaffected by the change in environment looked to the only other person in the room unaffected by the rapid change.  Giles.  Everyone that could looked where the two gods were staring, and saw for themselves the change of Rupert Giles into the creature called Ripper.  He was for the moment surrounded by the central cone of the wind and a blue hue of lightning and the thunder invoked by it surrounded him.

          The man himself seemed totally unaffected by it.  In fact he seemed to be reveling in it, whilst he continuously stared at the sword in his hands.  Finally, as the storm within the building seemed to reach its highest peak, a bolt of pure energy shaped like lightning formed within the blade and then somehow transferred to the body and in the next moment, Giles was surrounded by a blue glow, like the turmoil of thunderclouds, and lightning energy coalesced into a ball in the center of his frame and slowly traveled up it until it reached his head.  As it did, all the winds in the room seem to be sucked right into him.

          When it was finally over in the next second, everybody took a moment or two to gather themselves after the event they had expected but never this soon.  After they were all steady, as one they looked to the new occupant of the room, whom had taken Giles place in more than just one way.

          One thing to be said about Ripper, as devious, manipulating, and cruel as he may be, he is quite the looker.  Before everybody stood a young man of Giles' height, similar build, but more muscular than Giles' ever was.  He had dark, slicked black hair and dark eyes that were blacker than bottomless pits.  His dress was vastly in contrast to the Watcher's tweed and subdued earthen tones.  Starting from his feet, he wore black.  Leather shoes, leather pants, a silver chain around his waist that he wore like a belt, and his shirt was little more than a black silver-studded velvet vest that covered his back, shoulders and left his prominent muscular chest open to the air.

          Smiling wickedly, Ripper twirled his sword on his wrist before fitting it into the scabbard at his waist, attached to the chain-belt.  Then he turned to the group staring at him and smiled wickedly once more.  He laughed a deep-throated chuckle before stretching out, as though he had just woken from a long nap.  Then, in a voice completely devoid of an English accent, he exclaimed, "Oh MAN!  It is _so_ GOOD to be out and about again!"

          Gulping softly before he spoke, Xander asked, "Giles?"

          Ripper turned his attention full on the boy that had spoken to him.  He grinned again.  "Oh man, I have been waiting for _such_ a long time to do this!" he exclaimed as he raised his left hand at Xander, made his hand into the shape of a gun, and "fired" off a bolt of blue energy that hit the man in the chest, knocking him back, out of Anya's grasp.  "XANDER!!" she shouted automatically.

          Then she saw what Ripper had actually done to him.  She couldn't help grinning, but managed to hold back the giggles.  Buffy, Willow, and Spike didn't.

          "What?" Xander asked at their sudden laughing, absently rubbing his chest where the bolt of energy had hit him.  That was when he noticed that his shirt had changed texture.  Looking down, he saw it wasn't only his shirt that had changed.  He was now wearing an exact copy of Giles' tweed suit, right down to the underwear.

          "Oh bloody hell, what has happened?" Xander cursed in a flawless English accent.  He stopped at the sound of his voice and spoke again, "My voice.  What has happened to my voice?  What the bloody hell did you do to me you buggerer?"

          Buffy broke out into full giggles and had to be held up by her brother to keep from falling over.  Joshua kept a straight face, Willow was struggling with her facial features, Spike was already on the floor rolling around, Anya had on her concerned face, either because she didn't find it funny, or couldn't see that it was supposed to be funny.  Dawn was in the same boat as Willow, but Ripper just had that same smug, evil-looking grin on his face.

          "Change me back you stinking Yank!" Xander shouted.

          In Giles voice, Ripper responded, "And prey tell, Xan-man, why on Earth would I want to do that?"  He chuckled some and then continued in his new youthful, non-accented voice, "Now you know how it feels kid.  I had to endure three times the embarrassment trapped as I was inside Rupert, and I will have you know, _Xan-man_, I really, and I mean I _really_ hated being called G-man."  Ripper's glare gave Xander no doubt as to his words truth and Xander decided that he did not want to piss the War god off.  At least not until Xander could actually fight back fair.

          So biting his lip at the retort in his mouth, Xander just huffed and clicked his tongue once and then turned back to his sister and older brother.  "Will you two please help me out here?" he begged.  "I just promised Anyanka-" he stopped talking and tried again, "Annnnn-yanka.  Anyanka.  Bloody hell, why can't I call her Annnnn-yanka?  Bloody Hell!!  I promised my fiancée that I will marry her today and I am not bloody about to do so dressed like the bleedin' Watchers and spouting off at the mouth like a English Lit. Professor!!"

          Buffy exchanged a look with Joshua, who just shrugged, and Buffy nodded and turned back to Ripper.  "Change him back Ripper.  That's an order." Buffy monotoned.

          Ripper snorted at her and scoffed.  "Until we're home, _luv_, I will not take orders from you or Joshie there.  So deal with it…"

          "Change him back Ripper,"

          Xander immediately changed back into his other clothing in a blue flash of light and he apparently lost the accent too.  The order had come from Anya of all people, which surprised most of the people in the room beyond words.  Xander was not one of them.

          "An, (_thank you_ he whispered to God) how did you get…_him_ to change me back.  Because I'm real grateful, I was just hoping you could teach me how to do that so I…" Ripper cut him off.

          "Boy shut up!" he ordered.  "Rupert promised me that he would help me in anything that I needed help in, no matter his form until you all left for this Anton place.  I just now realized that that basically meant I could order Ripper around and he would do it.  No complaining about it either.  And I don't like you threatening not to marry me Xander," Anya explained.

          Ripper scowled, but he didn't counter the statement.  Xander and Joshua were rather surprised by this information, but Buffy held a knowing smile on her face.  Willow wondered what was going on in the Love goddess's head.

          Xander then became preoccupied with keeping Anya happy and reassuring her that they would be married today.  They just had a lot of work to do.  "Ok, Anya," he began after she was reassured.  "First things first I guess.  Are there any like…demon…family or, uh, guests that you want to invite?  Cause, while if this were under any other supervision I would be totally against it, but I figured with a War god, and an Archangel and a former Slayer turned goddess, we might actually be able to handle them.  Well?"

          Anya bore a look of deep thought, for her, for several moments before shrugging and draping her arms around her love's neck.  "Oh, I guess if it would really be anyone, it shouldn't be ex-boyfriends should it?" she asked mid-answer, Xander's face gave her the answer.  "Well, then D'Hoffryn, he was the one that turned me into a vengeance demon, I guess that would kind of make him my ex-boss.  Then there was this Trandoshan demon I knew…"

          Xander turned desperately to his older brother, "Uh, Joshua, you want to take care of this list?  Please?  Pretty please?"  Joshua rolled his eyes, but nodded and stepped forward, a pad and pencil of paper appearing in his hands as he walked.  "Oh, before you get started Anya, is there anybody specific that I would need to teleport cross-country or anywhere in particular for?  Spike, you are allowed a couple guests I'm sure."

          Everybody just kind of stared at him, and then he hastily began writing down a list of names, but stopped at the second.  "Not allowed to bring back the dead for a wedding of non-champions Buffy."

          "Darn," cursed the goddess.  Joshua quickly finished the list he had received from everyone's minds and then turned his full attention to Anya as she began to list out possible guests that were of the demonic variety.

          "So what are you gonna take care of Buff?" Xander asked, glad that the Archangel had helped him out of the pinch of dealing with the guest list and therefore seating arrangements.

          "Decorations, food, wardrobe," she answered automatically.

          Xander could have hit himself upside the head.  "Oh.  Yeah, sure," he muttered over his oversight.

          Ripper was watching the whole scene with a disinterested air.  The shop wouldn't even open for another hour.  It was only 9:27 anyway.  Suddenly, Ripper felt a presence that he had not felt since…well for a really long time.  And it was getting closer.  Ripper, now attuned to them, could feel the energies around him gather even more so and felt them building as the presence grew ever closer.  He didn't stop the truly evil smile that came to his lips as he recalled who this presence was at the moment, and what fun he could have while she was still mortal.  In the next moment, the door opened one more time, the bell ringing announcing the arrival of the source of the presence that had Ripper in such a good mood.

_*                 *                 *                 *_

          Tara walked into the store, surprised to see everybody there already.  Except for Giles.  Tara thought it strange briefly that he was not there, but soon her entire attention was brought to the single stranger in the room.  A dark man that exuded on every level an evil presence that made one want to run screaming into the night.  She also noticed that he seemed to really like black leather.

          "Tara!" Willow exclaimed at the sight of her lover.  Tara was briefly distracted by Willow's shout but welcomed it at the sight of Willow smiling at her.  Tara smiled back and took a few more steps forward, but hesitated when a sudden wave of queasiness hit her, hard.

          Willow came up to the timid blonde and her smile grew with every step, until she noticed that the focus of her sight suddenly looked a little green.  "Tara, baby, are you all right?"

          "Baby?" Ripper sarcastically remarked, amused slightly by the irony of the statement.

          Joshua and Buffy both stopped what they were doing and gave the War god a glare that actually silenced him.

          "I'm fine Willow, really," Tara reassured as she smiled and carefully made the rest of her way into the shop.  Ripper casually noticed that she tried to stay as far as possible from him.  He smirked as a plan quickly came to mind.

          Willow and Tara stopped on the other side of the counter, where Tara's queasiness decreased a great deal.  Looking around the room Tara noted everyone's places.  Buffy was standing between Dawn and the stranger, her back to him, as she and Dawn talked about something or another.  Joshua was busy talking with Anya about something over by the table.  The stranger was still standing in the middle of the room, staring at her with the most disturbing look on his face.  Spike was just standing off on his lonesome, looking smug about something, and Xander was walking over to where she and Willow were standing.

          "Hey Tara," he greeted.  She nodded in kind.  "You ok?" he asked, "You don't look too hot.  You look kind of pale actually.  Are you feeling all right?"

          Tara grinned slightly and nodded once again.  "I'm fine.  Just a bit queasy from breakfast I guess.  Where's Giles?  And, uh who's that guy?"

          Tara noticed that both of her friends seemed to get nervous all of a sudden as the subject changed to the dark stranger.  In fact, Xander looked downright scared.  "Um, Tara, I don't know how exactly to tell you this, but," Willow hesitantly informed her, "That is Giles.  His name, or rather he is Ripper, the God of War.  But so far all he's done is made Xander wear tweed and look all threatening like.  But he does kind of give you the willies, doesn't he?"

          Tara absently nodded, staring back at the War god and somehow feeling a connection to him.  Though she couldn't explain it, and she never felt any positive emotions over it or about him in general, she still felt connected to him.  She didn't like it.

          Ripper finally let on that he had noticed her staring back at him, and grinned a little wider.  He took several steps forward and felt the power continuously build as he neared the shy little blond lover of the mortal Willow.  Joshua and Buffy too could feel the power build, but Joshua was distracted by Anya, not to mention the list she was giving him, and Buffy was just silently watching Ripper, not trusting his motives in the least.

          Tara gulped when she saw the god Ripper beginning to walk towards her.  With every step that he took she felt her nausea increase nearly tenfold each time.  Willow and Xander noticed Tara's sudden paling and her gulp, and the look in her eyes was identical to a deer trapped before a car's headlights.  Willow turned to see Ripper slowly stepping towards them and felt a sudden nervousness that she couldn't explain, but certainly didn't like.

          Xander, finding his courage, stepped between the War god and his best friend and her lover.  Ripper looked up from his staring contest with Tara to glare at the youth that had cause him such frustration in his mortal life.  The he smiled sickly sweet and in his dark voice he assured them, "Don't worry Xan-man.  I just wanted to speak with the new arrival.  Isn't that right, _baby_?"  He chuckled darkly as he gave Tara meaningful glare.

          "You stay away from her!" Willow snapped harshly under her breath, her eye growing dark as she subconsciously tapped into her magics.  Ripper just shifted his gaze to her and smiled sickly sweet at her as well, completely unfazed.

          "Tara, I do need to speak with you.  If that is, you and your friends don't mind.  And it is a "private" issue," Ripper stressed to his fellow god.

          Tara felt the pull of his words, but not only that, she felt that same connection to this god, and she couldn't deny that she was curious about what it involved.  How could she possibly be connected this god?  Finally, Tara came to her decision and touched Willow gently on the shoulder, to calm her down.

          "It's all right Willow, Xander.  I'll be fine.  Keep in mind that he's still Giles, and my uncle.  He wouldn't dare harm me with both Buffy and Joshua in the same room." Tara assured.

          Willow gave Ripper one final dark glare of her own before turning to Tara and her features immediately softened as she contemplated Tara's request.  "Are you sure baby?" Willow asked in a softened voice.  After some hesitation, spent staring in Ripper's eyes, Tara looked her godhood mother in the eye and nodded her assent.

          Willow hesitated a little more, and then moved off with Xander to join Buffy and Dawn.  Ripper immediately took their place and remained silent for several minutes, just staring at Tara, as she stared back.  "Wh-what is it that you needed to talk about?" Tara asked.

          Ripper just shrugged and gave her a lopsided grin that was more a smirk that anything conveying an ounce of good intentions.  He remained silent for another few minutes before he leaned a little closer to her, and Tara felt the need to hurl at the close proximity to the War god.  Then he whispered so that only she could hear him, "I was just wondering if my cousin was actually any good in the sack.  She never really played around enough for me to get that good of an idea how she might have been in the sack.  So just between you and me, _baby_, just how good is she?"

          Tara couldn't believe her ears.  This creature used to be Giles?  "Whu-what?" she stuttered.  Ripper grinned evilly, "Yo heard me, _baby_, how is she?"  Tara's eyes turned hard at that.  "I thought's that what you said," she shot back with a strength that genuinely surprised the warrior.

          "Well, well, well," he taunted with his oily slick voice, "There's some backbone to the peace monger after all.  Well, little one, just how tough is that backbone of yours?  Tough enough to stand against a warrior like me?  Tough enough to actually stand here any longer?  You do know that it is me that is making you feel so sick, don't you?  I know how queasy you must feel, me being this close to you, almost, dare I say it, intimately close." He grinned perversely down at her.

          Tara glared him back in the eyes, trying to hold back on being sick long enough to make this dark creature back down in its own cowardice.  Somehow she knew that he was telling the truth about how he was affecting her, though she still did not understand why.

          As though reading her mind, which he probably was, he continued, "Wanna know why that is?  Well, it's really kind of interesting if you want to hear it.  You see, I'm the God of War.  You are the Goddess of Peace.  We are complete and total opposites.  And, while you may be underpowered, which translates to "mortal", you make me just as sick as I make you.  So, _mortal_, what are you going to do to make me back down and run home crying to mommy with my tail tucked between my legs?"

          "Threaten to scream, or kiss you on the lips, _Ripper_," Tara answered with an anger she has very rarely felt.  "As I understand it, that might just be poisonous to you.  Maybe to me too, but I'm mortal and can be healed by the other gods here.  Gods can't heal each other, am I right?"

          Ripper was impressed.  Her threat actually caused him to lose some of his bravado.  The he smiled down on her and leaned in real close, making him want to vomit all over her, but he held down his stomach for the time being as he throatily whispered, "You know that you are still a virgin.  Part of the whole god-requirement thing.  I had to kill in cold blood, Buffy had to love and more or less be a slut with more than one guy.  You have to be the human example of purity and peace.  Maybe I should kiss you.  It might just deflower you enough that I'll have less competition during the wars when we get back home."

          "What do you mean?" Tara asked, curious despite how she felt at that moment.

          Ripper smirked but didn't move from his position and answered her question.  "We gods, back home we compete for the mortals attention.  Some even for the Immortal's attention, though they mostly just pay tribute to their parents and none others.  The more temples and mortals we have calling out our names for help and respect and honor, well, let's just say that the Queen C would have nothing on me during a territory dispute."

          Tara looked up at the god, horrified.  "You treat people's beliefs like a popularity contest?!" she hissed, outraged.  Ripper's lecherous grin was her answer.  She wanted to turn away, get away from the horrible beast that once upon a time was a respectable man that she had admired.  She suddenly found both his arms on either side of her, preventing her from going around him without shoving him off.  Tara felt like touching him might actually make her sick enough to show it, and wanted to avoid it at all costs.  She didn't understand, if he was feeling the same way that she was right now, why was he even near her now?  Why was he trying to keep her a close, or closer than etiquette could ever dictate?

          "Get away from me!" she snapped, glaring him in the eye with a look of such hate and disgust that he almost did as she told him to solely out of respect.  Instead he just leaned in a little further and effectively pinned her against the counter.

          "Make me," he hissed back.

          All of a sudden, all the gods in the room felt the building energy surge forward in a devastating climax that none of them were prepared for.  One second sooner than that though, Tara's body exploded.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three 

          Tara's body exploded in a blast of pure white light, so blinding that everybody cried out and immediately covered their eyes.  Ripper, unfortunate for him, was so close to Tara that he didn't have that option.  Instead he was blasted back against the far wall, and nearly through it, by the sheer force of Tara's godhood reawakening.  Like with both Buffy's and Ripper's reawakenings, a huge gust of wind swept through the entire room.  Unlike them though, and clearly unique with Tara, Tara's old body was destroyed so she was now creating a new one, a purer one within the blindingly pure white light where she had been standing but moments ago.  After maybe a minute of the swirling vortex, which was not nearly as violent as Rippers, but much stronger than Buffy's had been, the winds died down and the white light ceased shortly there after.

          When everyone looked up once again, they saw a truly amazing and beautiful sight.  Tara was still standing there seemingly unharmed, but drastically changed from what she had been before.  For starters, any imperfections, as few as they may have been that Willow had ever noticed and probably even more that she hadn't, were completely gone.  Her body was now, for lack of any other term, perfect.

          Tara's golden blond hair fell in gentle curls around her head and neck, a warm and caring smile gracing her lips as she stared with her shining aqua blue orbs at the group.  Her entire body was still shrouded in a pure white aura, fading energy from her explosive reawakening.  As for her dress, well, combine modern aspects like slits and V-necks and bust lines, and mix it Greek style togas along with Roman style ceremonial dresses and that's basically what shy, timid Tara was wearing.

          It was a beautiful shimmering dress that hung from two gold pendants at her shoulders, and fell in a steep v-neck to just above her bust line, embroidered with gold intricacies all along the seam.  Straight down the side fell a golden embroidery rope that was wrapped around Tara's waist as a belt.  Opposite the rope was a slit in the dress that went all the way up to her lower thigh, also embroidered in gold along the seams.  The back was drooped so that it showed just as much skin as it did on the front, though the dresses folds created an interesting effect forgoing the gold embroidery design in that area.  To Willow, Tara looked more beautiful than she had ever seen her before.

          A minute after this startling transformation, Willow was the first to gather enough courage to speak.  "Tara?" she asked in a strained voice, hoping that her love was all right, even if she wasn't her love anymore.

          Tara's smile grew at the sound of her mother's voice.  Then, as she stood there smiling, the memories began to flood her.  As with Buffy, the first memories she had were as a Goddess, the daughter of the Special Guardian.  Then came the memories of this mortal life she had just been so violently ripped away from.  Still…  Still…

          Realizing that she was just standing there, smiling like an idiot and staring off into space, Tara gave the equivalent of shaking herself and smiled genuinely and looked to her mother.  Then she frowned, internally, slightly as she realized that it was not her mother.  Not yet.  Still…  Then she saw two she _did_ recognize.

          "Aunt Buffy!" Tara squealed as she suddenly raced forward, Buffy meeting her halfway.

          "Tara!" Buffy cried as they embraced.  Willow saw there were tears in her eyes and wondered, among many things, why Buffy would be crying and why hadn't Tara come to her first?

          Slowly, as they released each other, Tara became aware of her aunt's state.  "Oh, Aunt Buffy, what is the matter?  Is everything all right?"  Tara always was the first to offer a shoulder to cry on and make everything all better.  To everyone.  Well, except Ripper.  But even then she sometimes leaned a sympathetic ear or tissue.

          Buffy, tears streaming down her face shook her head, but refused to answer her niece any further.  That was when Tara noticed Joshua standing silently behind Buffy, looking solemn.  But to her he had always looked that way, about everything.  Her smile grew wider yet as she went to her eldest uncle and embraced him as well.  He accepted her, but his face held the same sadness that Buffy's conveyed.

          "Uncle Joshua!" she cried.

          Joshua smiled at his favorite niece and gently placed his hand on her back, a half hug.  "It's just Joshua Tara," he said in an easy tone.  "I'm very glad to see you Tara, I just wish it had been under better circumstances."

          Tara looked up at him, confused.  "I do not understand.  And where is mother?  I cannot sense her presence anywhere and the mortal girl that looks and sounds like her doesn't think of me as her daughter.  Uncle Joshua, where are we for that matter?"

          Joshua sighed, rolling his eyes slightly.  He shared a look with Buffy, who was smiling slightly through her tears.  "I forgot how proper she was all of the time," he commented.  She just shrugged.

          Joshua just shook his head and chuckled a little as he bent over to look Tara in the eye.  "Tara, I need to you tell me everything that you remember.  I think part of your memory might be blocked from you, and it is very important that you remember it.  Even if it may be painful."  Tara saw the look in her uncle's eye and knew that he was speaking the truth, it truly was important.

          So, Tara, her eyes downcast, focused inward and saw herself, and found her mind and saw that she indeed did have locked memories.  When she saw their dark color and ugly shade, she knew they involved Ripper.  Only those colors and shades could come about when it was Ripper.  She touched them…

          Tara gasped suddenly and looked up into Joshua's eyes, tears forming at the edge of hers.  Joshua immediately understood and grasped her in a hug once more.  She held on for dear life, crying her hear out in her silent tears.  Buffy, concerned, stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on Tara's shoulder.  That was all the contact she needed.  Buffy suddenly saw the memories that were troubling her.  The memories of the past five minutes with Ripper, and the memories of Glory.  Both had the same effect on Tara and both had just hurt her dearly.

          A dark cloud suddenly passed over Sunnydale as the Goddess of Love suddenly displayed why some other love goddesses were also goddesses of war.  Turning a glare that quite literally melted wax and set wood and page aflame, Buffy turned to Ripper and took three large steps towards his slumped form, away from the hugging couple of Archangel and goddess.

          "Ripper."  That one word, said with such venom by a being of such power made everyone's spines run cold and the temperature in the room physically dropped to freezing.  Anya also wondered why the lights had gone out.

          Ripper, on the floor, unconsciously gulped as he scrambled to his feet through the broken shelves and books around him that he had collided with on his way down the wall.  "Uh-uh-uh…uh, yes, prin-prin-princess?" he stuttered as he finally got to his feet.

          Buffy grabbed him by the throat, and actually squeezed so hard that if he had been anything other than what he was, his neck would literally be crushed, and dragged him to the center of the room.  "How dare you!" Buffy accused in a voice that was as menacing as it was quiet.  "How dare you Ripper!  You know what kind of effect you have on Tara!  So soon after your own reawakening you wouldn't have time to prepare _your_ end of the defenses to make sure that this didn't happen!  I can't believe that you would actually be that stupid!"

          "So what!" Ripper shot back his voice unimpeded by the condition of his throat.  "You both knew that another god would get awakened today, we all felt the energy building up.  I just hastened it along a little.  No harm done.  In fact a little less work for you and Joshie there!"

          "No harm?" Buffy whispered so harshly that hardly anybody heard it.  "No harm? You RAPED HER!"

          This time even Ripper took offense and tried to get out of Buffy's death grip.  "I did no such thing!" he shouted back enraged at the accusation.  Buffy just tightened her grip a little and pulled the War god's head a little closer.  "You forced her to awaken, and not because she wanted to, not because it was needed, but because you wanted to see her weak and helpless and because you forgot that Tara's mortal form was a WITCH!!"

          At that, even Ripper paused, and after he had thought about it, he paled and gulped, despite Buffy's hold on him, and suddenly seemed very sick.  "Oh God," he mumbled, sounding suddenly very sick.  A disgusted look on her face, Buffy threw her cousin the ten feet to the floor in front of the door from where she stood and continued her accusations.  "You did the same thing Glory did Ripper.  Glory!!  Witches are always, _always_, aware of the energies around them!  When you put your energies so close to Tara, and when she tried to use her magic against you, you practically forced your essence inside of her!  The only thing Tara had left to do was to use her god-powers, which you forced her to do leaving no option.  Glory raped her mind, and you,_ you_, raped her soul and her magic."

          Willow was struggling not to do worse than Buffy was doing, but the only thing stopping her at the moment was Rippers face of stark terror.  But still…Buffy might need some encouragement, or even help in punishing the vagrant.  Yet when all heard the next words out of Buffy's mouth, Willow began to wonder which god she should be directing her powers against.

          "I should kill you myself," Buffy swore, her face a mask of rage.

          "Buffy!" Joshua sharply called, hoping that his sister was just making show and was kidding.

          When Buffy's body was suddenly surrounded by a dark red glow, he really began to wonder how much his family had changed over the two thousand years they had lived in this Realm.  Buffy raised her left hand, bolts of pink and red energy starting to spark at the outstretched tips of her fingers, and everybody knew that she was more than ready and willing to do it.  To actually kill Ripper.

          "_Buffy_!!" Joshua shouted.  His voice held the air of command, and everybody knew that this was truly the Archangel.  Buffy ignored him at first, though the sparks did die out, the angry red glow remained.  Buffy remained as such for another half a minute, until Tara spoke.

          "Buffy?" she asked in a scared little girl voice.

          Immediately the harsh glow faded and Buffy turned around and went to Tara.  The white clad goddess of peace happily went back to the arms of her beloved aunt.  "Don't do it.  It's not worth it," Tara whispered so that truly only Buffy could hear her.  The remaining tension left the love goddesses body and she just stood there, crying along with Tara for the younger goddesses pain.

          Buffy stopped after a minute, and with Tara still in her arms, she turned to the huddled form of Ripper, who hadn't moved since the moment that she threw him to the floor.  She gave him a death glare and said with her own authority, the authority that he would be dead unless he did exactly as she said, "Get out of here.  I do not want to see you again.  Is.  That.  Clear?"

          Ripper just stood up, nodded, and then disappeared in a blue cloud and flash of energy followed by the sound of thunder.  Ripper was gone.  For the time being.

          "But…what about the store?" Anya asked, worried about losing her god-sized helper.

          Buffy, some good mood going back into her, turned back to Anya and answered her concerns, "Don't worry Anya, the rest of us will help you out today.  Besides, the shop's going to be closed today, remember?  You're getting married this evening.  We've got a lot to plan for, not to mention do.  Joshua, you've got those guests?"

          Joshua rematerialized the pad and pen and grabbed Anya and took her back over to the table, Buffy grinning after them.

          Turning back to the others, Buffy noticed their looks at Tara and realized that she had one more little thing to take care of before she could focus solely on the wedding that evening.  Turning to her beloved niece, Buffy asked with a tender voice, "Tara?  Do you remember everything now?"  The goddess of peace nodded slightly, her eyes, still tear-stained, staring vacantly off into space.  Buffy knew of only one cure, and she wasn't entirely sure of how well it might be taken.  Fortunately, it was taken right out of her hands, by the cure itself.

          "Tara, baby, are you OK?" Willow asked in her sweet voice, the one that always got Tara to talk to her about anything in the past.  Though Willow knew consciously that this might no longer be _her_ Tara, she still somehow instinctually knew that the being she had known as Tara, that had _always_ been **Tara**, was still there and they were one in the same, and in some way always had been.

          Tara just remained still in Buffy's arms, her eyes shut.  She had stopped crying the moment that Ripper had left, but otherwise had not moved from the Love goddess's grasp.  Buffy tried one more time.  "Tara, we really need to know if you remember everything?"

          Slowly, Buffy could feel the goddess of peace come out of herself and reorient her body.  She delicately removed herself from her aunt's arms and was easily allowed to.  Slowly, she opened her eyes, her head still downcast, staring at the floor.  "Tara?" Willow almost wept the name, so afraid that she had lost the one thing in this world that meant more to her than even Buffy's friendship.

          Hearing the emotion, the turmoil behind such a cry, Tara was moved in more than one way.  Though it was not her mother, and if she understood what Buffy and Joshua were telling her, would not be for quite some time, from a mortal's perspective, Tara still felt her own love for Willow.  She remembered her thoughts from this morning, how love just wants us to be together and happy, and when she looked at Willow for the first time since she had been reborn, she saw her in that light.  The light of true love, and she saw something that she could only call a miracle.  She saw her mother there.

          Within Willow Rosenberg and still, like any person's soul, but it was so very much her mother.  Tara started crying again, but they were tears of joy, of great happiness.  She smiled so brightly that Buffy was afraid she'd have to manifest sunglasses for everybody.  "Mother…" the goddess whispered.

          Buffy's eyes widened slightly and started to cast nervous glances between Tara and Willow.  Seeing that her niece would not be denied, she gulped and took a silent, small step backwards, giving them the room and space needed for whatever they were going to do.

          "Tara?" Willow asked again, a tad bit more confident that she saw Tara smiling at her.

          Tara, still weeping with joy and smiling like the sun, just nodded through her emotions.  Willow, so overcome with relief and joy and love, didn't even think.  She just felt and reacted.  She raced forward and embraced the blond woman and cried onto her shoulder.  Tara embraced the vessel of her mother's soul and did the same.

          As they stood there, Tara became a little selfish and tried to probe into Willow, tried to find where her mother truly resided within this mortal girl, and tried to set her free.  She did find Willow, the Special Guardian of the Gods of Anton, but she could not set her free.  Because of one tiny little thing that she had not seen before.  Like with Tara, Willow's goddess persona, her personality, her _soul_ was already free, already controlling the girl's actions and moods.  The only thing missing was her memories and her powers.  Otherwise, Willow _was_ her mother.  Tara was happy.

          Willow suddenly felt a shift in directions, emotionally speaking, from Tara, so she let go, hard as that was, and stepped back a little, her cheeks smeared with tears.  "Tara?  Is everything all right?" she asked gently.  Tara, who was now just smiling, and amazingly all traces of tears on her face were completely gone, nodded and fondly stroked her mother's cheek.  Willow smiled and closed her eyes, leaning into the caress.  She always loved it when Tara touched her this way it always calmed her down and made her feel safe, and above all loved.

          Tara knew what Willow was thinking, and she was mildly surprised that she had done this as a mortal as well.  Because once upon a time, over two thousand years ago, Tara had done this, caressed her mother's cheek, almost everyday.  It was a habit that was engrained into their souls.  Tara would see that Willow needed comforting, and she would hold her cheek, just like this, and Willow would calm down or be soothed by the presence of her daughter.  The irony of the similarities made Tara giggle.

          "What?" Willow asked when she heard Tara giggle.

          Tara just shrugged and let go of Willow's face.  "It is nothing.  I just used to do the same thing with my mother when she was around."  
          Willow suddenly put on her 'resolve face' and Tara knew now more than ever that indeed Willow _was_ her mother.  "Don't you worry Tara," Willow vowed, "We'll find your mother, and then she can be reawakened and you two can talk about all the things that mothers and daughters talk about.  Play catch up."  Willow smiled when she saw Tara giggle once more.  She thought it was extra cute because she very rarely ever got Tara to laugh, let alone giggle.

          "Do not worry Willow," Tara consoled, taking Willow's right hand into her own hands.  "I have already found my mother.  And I anxiously await the day that she _can_ be reawakened.  I am happy."

          Willow started smiling, until she started thinking about Tara's words.  As they began to mix around in her head and everything else that she had learned of her own godhood in the past 24 hours, she began to frown a little.  She looked down to where Tara held her hands, and that was when it clicked.  Her expression changed to the one of "angry resolve face" and she turned to look at Buffy, the Love goddess, her _sister_, who had taken a few more steps back since her conversation with Tara had started.  Actually it was more of a revelation.

          "Buffy," Willow began casually enough.

          Trying hard to suppress the gulp, Buffy answered her just as casually, though a bit fearfully.  "Uh, yeah Will?"  Tara started to get a little worried, and it showed on her face.  She hated to be the start of an argument.  She was after all the Goddess of Peace.

          Willow noticed this and put her other hand on Tara's shoulder to comfort her.  "Don't worry Tara," she whispered before turning back to Buffy.

          "Buffy.  Why did you not tell me that _I_ am Tara's mother?" Willow asked calmly.

          Buffy just shrugged and tactlessly answered, "Because we didn't want you to freak."

          "Freak?"

          "Yeah.  You know how you get when you're nervous and before you and Tara met, you and relationships did not talk easy of each other.  I mean, when we first told Tara about her mom, you immediately started thinking of it from the 'girlfriend' perspective.  Getting to meet the parents and gaining their approval.  Well, since you are the mom, you would immediately start to shift gears from 'am I sorta gay' to 'do I _really_ like incest'?  We just wanted you to avoid that for as long as possible.  And in answer to your question, no you are not incestual; yours and Tara's powers are just linked.  Plus, humans, or mortals in intimate situations tend to go straight to the 'in love' and 'lets get physical' type of relationship rather than a familial."

          Rolling her eyes, Tara shook her head and thanked her aunt for a clear definition of her and her mother's relationship.  "Thank you Aunt Buffy, that…really helped."

          Buffy just nodded, grinned stupidly and then hastily walked off, losing the grin as soon as she was out of Tara and Willow's vision and took a huge sigh of relief.  Until Willow called her back over.

          "Oh, Buffy?" Willow called.

          Freezing stiffer than a board, Buffy slowly turned back around and looked her sister and best friend in the eye.  "Yeah Wills?" she asked as calmly as she could.  Willow looked back at the mess that Ripper, or Tara depending on your POV, had left and then at the door where he had disappeared from.  She turned back to Buffy and smiled.  "Thanks," she offered quietly.

          Buffy smiled brightly, realizing what Willow was talking about and nodded her head but didn't say anything.  She turned back and walked over to Xander, who had joined Anya and Joshua at the table, adding the people that he wanted at the wedding to the list.  Most were either actresses or models that he just wanted to actually get to meet while he was still a normal guy.  Buffy giggled at the look on Joshua's face as he spoke.

Joshua turned to her and pleaded with his eyes, which cause Buffy to giggle once more.  She just nodded and stopped Xander before he could go that much further on his list.  "Xander, I need to speak with you in the back please.  Don't worry, it's nothing too painful," Buffy teased as she dragged the husband to be away from her brother and the soon to be wife.

When they entered the back of the store, and Buffy had closed the door so that Anya would not easily listen in, Xander turned to her and asked, "What's up Buff?  I know that I'm getting too out there with my side of the list, but hey, it is my wedding."  He then tried his really adorable 'puppy dog' stare to add to his case.  He must have really wanted one of those super models there, Buffy mused.

Buffy just smiled and shook her head.  The one person that look had _ever_ worked with was Anya.  Everybody else knew Xander too well to fall for it.  "Xander, do you still have your sword?" Buffy asked skipping right to the reason she had brought him in here.

Xander nodded, sobered somewhat, and removed the sheathed blade from the place he had put it on his hip.  Buffy casually noticed that he had put it on his right side.  She asked him about it.  "Why did you put it on?  And why that side?"

Xander just shrugged and lay down the sword on a workout bench as he came up with his answer.  "I…I don't know.  It just felt…like that was what I was supposed to do.  And when I did, it…I could almost swear that it actually seemed _warm_.  Is that crazy…or bad?"

"Neither Xander," Buffy answered immediately.  "It just shows that whether you are awakened or not, you know that sword.  That is _your_ sword Xander.  You made it yourself, you put your heart and soul into it, and that is why it is so special.  The swords name is _Alexiend_.  Where you are the God of Justice and Truth, it is the sword of justice and truth.  It is your symbol and the equivalent of your right hand.  It's not the source of your power, because in truth, _you_ are the source of _its_ power."

Xander just stared confusedly at Buffy for several moments.  Then he looked back to the sword on the bench.  He looked back to Buffy and begged with his eyes as he asked, "Are you sure that I don't become a god today?  I mean are you absolutely _sure_?"

Buffy smiled gently and nodded.

Xander nodded reached out for the sword.  He placed it back at its place, on his right side, leaving his left hand on the grip.  Then he frowned in confusion.  "If it's my right hand, and this is where it's supposed to be, then why do I put it on my right side?  Because then I'm forced to draw with my left hand.  Shouldn't it be on my left side, so I can draw it with my right?"

Smiling, Buffy stepped forward until she was right in front of Xander.  "It's an intimidation factor.  You're best with your right hand, but the fact that you draw and start the fight with your left says that you are confident of your abilities, and that you are a master swordsman, one who can fight with both hands.  And sometimes, none at all."

Confused, Xander scrunched his face some as he looked down into Buffy's hazel eyes.  "Huh?"

Buffy smiled brightly and the cute face Xander always had when he didn't understand anything.  "What I mean is, that Alexander, the God of Justice, is such a good fighter, that sometimes he doesn't even have to use his sword to win.  And when he does, he starts with his weakest hand because even though it is his weakest hand, he still wins.  He only switches to his right hand, his good hand, when his opponent is maybe better than him.  Like me."

Xander gave a lopsided grin.  "You could always beat me Buff.  Ofcourse, all of that was before I knew I was a god.  And before I had this…amazing sword."  Xander paused as he though of the blade he now possessed.  "I really made it myself?" he asked, unable to believe that his own hands had crafted such a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

Buffy nodded and reached for the hilt at his waist.  She paused, just before she would touch the grip, and looked up at him in the eye.  "May I?" she asked softly.  Xander, completely unaware of the tension that had mounted in the room since Buffy had stepped closer, just nodded his agreement.  Smiling as only the blonde goddess could do, she quickly grabbed the sword and removed it in one flowing motion.  It sung as it was removed from its sheath, allowed to flow through the air once more.

"It's beautiful…isn't it?" Buffy asked as she examined the blade in her hands, almost delicately.

Xander just nodded numbly.

"Xander?" Buffy asked, indicating that she did want him to answer her.  Shaking himself he looked into the eyes of a woman he had literally fallen in love for at first sight.  "What is it Buffy?" he asked.

Staring straight into his eyes, so deep that he somehow knew she was staring directly into his soul, Buffy asked her question very carefully.  "Are you still in love with me Xander?"

Xander rapid blinked for about thirty seconds and stood in shock for another thirty before he could begin to even think of a response to that question.  "Excuse me?" he finally asked, the stress of his emotions leaking as squeaks into his voice.

Buffy just sighed and looked downcast for a moment before looking back up into Xander's eyes.  "This is very important Xander.  I need to be absolutely sure, and so do you.  I need you to search your heart, your feelings, your memories, even the painful ones.  Do you still love me?  And I don't mean as a sister, or as your hero, or as a friend.  I mean are you still in love with me?  Like Spike is?"

That set Xander off.  "Now wait just a minute…" he started into a tantrum.  Buffy stopped him.

Shaking her head Buffy cut him off, "No Xander, I will not just wait.  Spike, as a vampire and as a man, or whatever is left of the man, he loves Buffy Summers.  Being the Goddess of Love, I can't deny that.  Not that I want to.  Xander, love is a beautiful and wonderful thing.  But it is also a very dangerous, powerful, and sometimes painful thing.  Spike, my son, loves me as such.  As he is, he isn't my son, he's Spike, formerly William the Bloody.  And you, Xander, you aren't my brother Alexander, not yet.  So I need to know, and so do you…do you still love me?  Are you still in love with Buffy Summers?"

Xander, now understanding, just stared back into the bottomless orbs that were Buffy's hazel eyes.  But just because they were bottomless doesn't mean they were empty.  If anything, they were filled from the center of the very bottom all the way to the top, with love, caring, and concern.  Staring at the face of his best friend for five years, the woman that he claimed to genuinely love from the moment he saw her walking into the school they both attended, Xander came to the realization that he knew Buffy must have already sensed in him.

Xander realized that as long as he still held onto the memories of loving Buffy like that, he would have doubts about his love with Anya.  He smiled when he realized that he had let go of those feelings for Buffy.  A long time ago.  Very possibly that night that Anya had risked herself to help him save Buffy when she and Riley were stuck in the Frat house, bonking each other to death.  The whole deal of seeing Buffy move happily on and finding someone who would follow him into death and very real danger and publicly professed her passion and love for him as much as Anya does…he loved Anya.

Xander could see it in his sister's eyes the moment that she knew that he had decided.  She smiled brightly and feeling the absolute joy and giddiness his decision provided him he was forced to join her.  Grinning like a complete fool, Xander knew he didn't have to say anything, but he knew that he needed to hear it from his own voice, and Buffy wanted him to say it.

Looking into the goddesses loving and joy filled eyes, Xander answered with absolute conviction in his voice, "Yes Buffy, I do…" he paused long enough to enjoy Buffy's face falling and fill with absolute terror, before adding with emphasis, " _not_ love you like that anymore.  I love you like a sister, a friend, and even, and don't let this go to your head, as my goddess.  But I don't love you like I did in high school.  I'm in love with Anya.  I love her with all my soul, and I can feel it with every bone in my body the passion I see in her, the passion she shows me, the absolute devotion she has committed to me.  I don't know how she can give so much and be satisfied with me.  I mean, look at our relationship.  It's based on sex first of all…"

"Usually the best kinds are, in my experience and oh so humble opinion," Buffy interrupted.

Caught offbeat at that, Xander struggled to retain his train of thought.  "Uh…yeah, ok.  Well, then there's the fact that she's an ex-demon.  A Vengeance demon at that."

"And you're an ex-soon to be again God of Justice.  Not much difference in that department.  And something you have to remember Xander, before she was a demon, she was a human girl.  You helped her to remember the best parts of humanity, you showed her what I gave to you and Willow, love.  Xander…" Buffy paused, setting _Alexiend_ back down on the bench, "The reason I asked you back her was to discuss the doubts your having.  I know you still have a lot of them, I can tell.  Trust me, it's a goddess thing.  So why don't you stop kidding yourself and tell me what's the matter."

Xander stared at her for several moments before breaking out in a tantrum.  "Buffy, I don't understand.  How did this happen in the first place?  I mean, there were me and Cordelia, perfectly happy, and then I go and have to kiss Willow.  And I _still_ don't know what was going through my head back then.  I mean, there was the fact that you ran away and came back and that was all emotionally tense and stuff.  Then came Faith and I got the whole new range of wet dreams from _that_, and during all of it me and Cordy were still perfectly happy hormone-driven teenagers.  Then Angel shows back up, and I know that's unfair to you but there was all this emotional angst thing going on between us."

"By the way, he's not…" Xander leaned in close to whisper.

Buffy emphatically shook her head to the negative.  "No, Angel is _not_, I repeat _NOT_ a god.  He's exactly what he is.  A vampire with a soul destined to fight eternity for his redemption.  But just so you know, Cordelia is…"

"She IS?!!" Xander screeched.  "Uh, which…?"

"Our sister," Buffy answered shortly.

Xander blinked before grunting, "Hunh."

Shaking his head he got back to his rant.  "Anyway, dealing with a whole helluva bunch of emotional landmines, somewhere along the way me and Will develop this sexual chemistry thing, then Spike showing back up and locking us up in the same room for hours on end.  And on the first kiss…the ONLY kiss…our heroes, Cordy and Oz show up.  Then there was the whole evil Faith issue, not to mention that vampire Willow.  Hey now that I think of it…"

"Don't ask." Buffy cut him off.

"But…"

"Don't.  Ask."  Xander decided not to ask.

"Well, then Anya just shows up…and demands that I take her to Prom," he stopped.

"And…" Buffy prompted.

"What?" Xander jumped, having apparently been caught up in a memory.

"You were talking about Anya…" Buffy hinted.

Xander nodded.  He was silent, thinking.  "I love Anya Buffy.  There's nothing more to it.  It's not just one thing or event.  It's a whole season of things, most of them having to do with sex…and this little thing she does…with…" he stopped when he saw Buffy paying close attention to him.  "Uh…is this freaking you out?"  He knew how Buffy and Willow got when open sexual terms and relationships were discussed.

Buffy just shrugged and shook her head, wanting him to continue.

Smiling slightly, Xander just shrugged.  "Well, never mind that.  My point is, I love Anya.  Nothing in this world or the next can change my feelings…my love for her.  But…I want to treat her right.  I want to give her everything she deserves, and so much more.  She deserves everything…but."

Surprised, Buffy asked, "But what?"

Sighing, Xander sat down on the bench next to his sword.

"I…I correct her," he answered shortly.

"Uh huh," Buffy had noticed this but didn't really understand.

Rolling his eyes slightly at Buffy's lack of understanding, Xander tried to formulate his thoughts into words that she could understand.  "Well, it mostly has to do with the demon thing.  I mean, I seriously don't have a problem that she used to be one.  Emphasis on the word _used to be_ here.  My problem is that…well I've kind of gotten it stuck in my head that demons are bad.  That they should all be well, you know, fought against and killed.  Demons are evil.  I don't think even you'll deny that.  But Anya, she…  She makes it seem like demons are her kind, and if you insult or even insinuate killing a demon, then she gets all defensive and…  I just don't understand that part of her."

"And then there's the correcting her thing," Buffy helpfully pointed out.

Xander closed his eyes and gave a single weak laugh.  "Yeah.  I don't know if she likes me for helping her to fit in more, hates it when I do it, or gets annoyed by me when I do it.  But…she's…"

"Open," Buffy supplied.

Xander nodded, accepting that.  "She is that.  But she rarely, if ever considers other people's feelings before words just go flying out of her mouth.  Sometimes, she can be downright insulting.  Come on, you've seen her Buffy, you know her.  You know what she's like.  What can I do?"

Buffy was silent for several moments.  Then she walked over and sat on the other side of Xander from his sword.  "Well, here's what I suggest.  Listen, learn, and love.  Listen to what Anya says.  If it makes a valid and logical point, no matter how screwed from either the general worldview or even your own selfish one, just listen.  If she is getting insulting and it doesn't look like she's stopping or is even aware of it, then you can correct her."

"Learn from her.  That woman has seen a lot.  Admitted, not all of it paints a very good picture, but its still allot.  Learn from your mistakes, and from hers, and let her learn from you at the same time and from her own mistakes.  Most of all, learn to trust her.  Hell, if anything, Anya has the absolute least reason to be with you.  Heck, you're the reason she's here at all.  She helped us all just before the fight with Glory.  We were all ready to just give up and give in.  But she rallied us.  She saw we were losing hope and gave us the speech that you or Willow would have made if you hadn't been so overwhelmed in defeat.  She trusts you Xander.  With her heart, with her everything.  Find out if you can trust her with yours.  Love her.  Let her love you, accept it, and never question anything about or beyond that."

They sat in silence, Xander absorbing the Love goddess's wisdom, for several minutes before they moved again.  Sighing, Xander stood and reached out for _Alexiend_.  As he did, both he and Buffy noticed that it glowed, and hummed, with a bright red energy that Xander could only describe as _warm_.

Picking the sword up, it continued to hum with the energy, and Xander began to panic.  In it, he felt the warmth in the blade drop and then it was just another beautiful sword.  "Buffy?" he asked, his panic showing.

Smiling, Buffy stood up as well.  "Don't worry Xander.  Like we told you before, you're fighting your transformation.  The sword was just reacting to your emotions over Anya.  It will do that from time to time, particularly when you…positively stimulated."

"Positively stimulated?" he repeated.

Buffy shrugged.  "The pure love you were feeling for Anya just a second ago, your feelings of friendship with Willow and me, and heck maybe even your orgasms with Anya.  Just to warn you though, the emotion that really will trigger you off, is the same emotion you were feeling the night that you, Spike and Giles hunted and killed that demon doctor that cut Dawnie."

"Why?"

"Because that, for lack of a better term, is your sense of Justice, and you Alexander, are the God of Justice.  I'm love, so I had to focus on love.  Ripper's war, so he had to focus on rage and pure hatred.  Tara, well this time, reacted to Ripper, but she is peace, so it would not have been long for her anyway.  Remember, I said that Tara was already very much into her goddess persona."

Xander nodded.  "Yeah, I remember that."  They turned and started to walk back out to the main shop.  "Hey Buff, thanks for having this talk with me, I…I really needed it."

Buffy smiled warmly and rubbed Xander's shoulder in a friendly way.  "Don't sweat it big bro.  I'm always here for you.  I just want you and Anya to be happy.  And like I said, I sensed that you were having some serious relationship doubts, so who better to come to the rescue than the Goddess of Love?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

          Anya was on the point, as the saying went, of having a cow.  To be honest there were only forty or so demons that she had been on anything like friendship terms with.  Sure, there were a few ex-boyfriends and ex-lovers muddled up in there, but she didn't invite those, only those that she genuinely liked.  D'Hoffryn, her boss, then there was Halfrek, a fellow vengeance demon, Gefkali, another vengeance demon that specialized in the spurned men more than women or children, dozens of others.

          What she was having so much stress over though, was that ten minutes ago Buffy had dragged Xander off into the back room and they were _still_ back there.  Joshua, '_stupid Archangel,_' was trying to distract her by getting her back to the guest list, but she was not to be misled.  The moment that Buffy stepped out of the back, followed closely by her fiancée, Anya was in full "overreact" mode and stalking up to the pair of friends.

          Joshua, seeing that there was nothing that he really could do, just sighed and sat back to enjoy the show.

          Buffy saw Anya coming, knowing full well what was on her mind, and Joshua's reaction to it, laying back with his arms behind his head and a bemused sort of smile on his face.  She glared at her eldest brother, but refrained from comment, choosing to deal with Anya's doubts first before moving onto castrating her "angel."

          The moment that Anya was within two feet of her, and had opened her mouth to start accusing and shouting at the love goddess, Buffy grabbed the blonde by both arms and stepped forward herself.  She put her mouth next to the woman's ear so only she could easily hear what she had to say, and whispered urgently, "Anya, we have to talk.  Come with me to the back room, don't say anything, just trust me.  We really have to talk about some things.  And Anya, he's my brother.  For once, believe me when I say '_ewwwww!_'"

          Anya, surprised by the action, just nodded and followed her soon-to-be sister-in-law to the back room.  Xander was just as surprised as anyone, but he managed to catch Buffy's eye before she and Anya disappeared.  She squinted her eyes, and then pointedly looked at him, and then shifted her gaze to Joshua.  Xander turned to look at the Archangel, seeing him relaxed and almost smug looking.  When his thoughts caught on to what Buffy had been hinting, he smiled.  A fun smile, well for him anyway.

          Joshua observed the whole transaction, and would be lying if he said he wasn't just a little disappointed.  When he caught Buffy's look at Xander, and the boy's subsequent smile afterwards, he began to feel a bit more on the nervous side.  When Xander came over and sat down next to him, still wearing that humorous smile, Joshua began to grow suspicious.

          "So, J-man, lets talk about guests," Xander started.  "Now Tyra Banks is simply one person that _must_ attend…"

_*                 *                 *                 *_

          In the back room, Anya and Buffy were just standing in the middle of the room, staring at each other.  Actually, staring is too soft a word.  Try boring holes into one another with their glares.  Buffy, while at the moment the more powerful of the two of them, her glare was little compared to the full fury staring that Anya was sending her way.  Anybody with a _quarter of a brain could see that she was pissed at the goddess, leaving Buffy with absolutely no doubt with her powers._

          "Just say it Anya," Buffy said after several minutes' tense silence.

          "You're trying to steal him away from me aren't you!!?" Anya loudly accused.

          Buffy just chuckled quietly and shook her head ruefully.

          "No Anya," Buffy answered.  "If anything, I'm trying to drive you two even more together.  What Xander and I talked about, specifically, he'll have to tell you, but for the most part I just tried to quiet his doubts.  I _want you two to get married Anya.  I want you to be my sister-in-law.  And above all else, I want you two to be happy, and 1,000% __sure of your feelings for one another.  Xander, now more than ever before, knows that he loves you and only you Anya.  He felt it before, he even knew it before, but now, now he has absolutely no doubt.  He loves you Anya, and he wants to marry you today.  He wants you to be happy, and believe it or not, when you're happy, it makes him happy."_

          The former Slayer's statement silenced Anya.  "Are-are…are…you sure?" the ex-demon whispered huskily.

          Feeling the girl's emotional conflict, Buffy smiled and took a tentative step forward.  When Anya showed no sign of anger or fear, she quickly crossed the divide between them and took the mortal woman in her arms.

          Anya just latched onto the contact like a lifeline, burying her head in the shorter blonde's shoulder.  She was so wrapped up in the moment that she barely heard Buffy's next words.  "I am so sure Anya.  The absolute last thing that Xander wants to do is hurt you.  He loves you so much.  Trust him Anya.  Believe it or not, he loves you just as much as you love him, possibly more.  He's just worried about upsetting or maybe hurting you.  Xander…Xander Harris has had a hard life.  His parents barely ever acknowledged him, and when they did it was only to knock him down.  He's lost friends, he's had heartache and he has learned what it is like to be the one to hurt after being the one hurt for so long.  He found his family, a family that loved him like one is supposed to, in Willow, Jesse, me, Giles, Cordelia, and maybe even Angel.  In Cordelia, while they were involved in this life, he found more of a sister than anything else.  In you though, in you Anya, he's found a mate.  A woman that he loves with all his soul, and yeah a woman that is compatible with him in bed.  He doesn't love you like a member of his extended family Anya, he loves you like a wife.  Think about that for a while."

          Buffy then guided the woman over to the couch that Giles had set up in the corner and sat her down.  She then stood up and was about to turn to the exit when she stopped.  "I'm going to get some supplies and rent a hall for the wedding.  I'll be back in a little while.  Just call my name if you need me Anya.  And if Ripper shows up, be sure to warn him that I will be back and that I'll be listening for your call.  Okay Anya?"

          Staring blankly off into space, Anyanka only nodded.  Frowning, Buffy teleported out, hoping that the woman's fears truly were unjustified and that she could help lay them to rest before the ceremony that night.

_*                 *                 *                 *_

          The second that the Love goddess had truly left the store, there was a sound of muted thunder, and a blue cloud, shaped like a man, suddenly appeared and reformed with a flash of a ball of lightning in it Ripper.  "Hello luv!" he greeted in a very bad fake English accent.

          "Hello Ripper," Anya greeted tonelessly, sounding depressed.

          "What's eating your goat sweet thing?" Ripper asked, dropping the fake accent and sat down beside her on the couch.  Anya didn't respond at all to his presence.  After a minute or more, she finally answered him.

          "I'm scared that I'm going to lose Xander," she said huskily.

          Ripper felt an uncharacteristic pang of sympathy when he heard the pure emotion in her voice.  Taking a risk, as Anya might scream for Buffy at any second, Ripper scooted closer to the former demon and put a gentle, fatherly arm around her.  She easily leaned into him and began to cry.

          "Oh Anya," Ripper whispered, a touch of the Englishman he used to be seeping into his tone.

          They just stayed like that for several minutes, Anya just crying into the god's lap, and him just holding her, letting her cry.  Finally, the mortal managed to get control over her emotions and stopped crying and sat back up.

          "What makes you think you'll ever lose the boy scout?" Ripper asked as though the crying session hadn't even happened.

          "Boy scout?" she asked.

          Ripper chuckled.  "My nickname for my do-gooder cousin.  He's the God of Justice, I'm the God of War, more often than we're brought together, we're on the opposite sides of the spectrum.  But he's still my cousin.  As much as I get on the bad side of my family, and as much as we openly oppose one another, we're still family, and we care for one another.  No matter what.  Though I think I went a bit too far with teasing Tara like that…"

          "Teasing?" Anya exclaimed.  "From what Buffy and the others said, it was more like raping!"

          Ripper lost the sympathy in his posture as he tried to keep his temper at being accused by a _mortal.  "No Anya, believe me, if I wanted to rape Tara, there would be no mistaking it.  All that was, was the same as Mohan demon showing a Malaga its crest of fertility.  Believe me, the only harm done is emotional, and with the slut around, it won't be a problem."_

          "Slut?"

          Ripper shrugged then whispered, "_Buffy."  Anya nodded her head, understanding the reference, "Ahhh," she mouthed._

          "Now why do you think you'll lose Xander?" Ripper asked again.

          Anya just shrugged her shoulders beneath his arms and looked down again.  "I am going to.  In one way or another.  When Xander gets his godhood back, he's not going to be _him anymore, he'll be something…somebody else.  I've already lost Giles, I…I don't want to lose Xander."_

          Ripper sat back a little.  "But you haven't lost me Anya, I'm right here."

          Anya rolled her eyes.  "Please, you, Buf-the slut, and the archangel have all said the same thing, the awakening changed you.  You aren't Giles.  Though Giles didn't really like me that much, and we fought a lot, he did give me a job.  And there was that promise he made me.  Ripper…he cared about me.  And other than Xander…nobody has cared about me in a…long time.  And Ripper, I've known others like you.  Beasts, demons, dark wizards, and other things that knew the power of cruelty.  I…I touched it myself.  Ripper, you don't care about anything.  You don't have emotions, a heart, _to care about me or any of us.  Giles did.  He loved Buffy, and me, and he treated Xander like a son.  And he would sooner cast himself willingly into hell before calling Buffy a slut."_

          Ripper was silent.  He removed his arm from the woman's shoulders and stood up.  "True."

          Anya expected more, but the god remained silent.  They remained like that for another ten minutes before even moving again.  Anya stood up and stepped to behind Ripper.

          "You'd better go, in case Buffy heard me."

          "I'd rather risk her wrath at the moment," he quietly answered.

          "You're angry."

          "No.  Remember, I don't have emotions.  I could say that I'm hurt, but that would indicate that I have weakness, that I am weak.  I'm not.  I'm a god, I'm invincible.  The only reason I fear Buffy is because she is my princess.  I have no choice but to do everything she says, and she has the power, as a direct member of the high royal family…to kill gods."

          "What?" Anya was alarmed.

          Ripper just nodded, not turning to look at her.  "Only her, Joshua…and Willow have that power.  Not even our parents.  Willow protects our realm, from invasion, from threat, and above all, from other gods.  Joshua is an Archangel, the chosen of our Realm.  Buffy…  Buffy's the princess of the gods.  She is the leader of our family, the one that is truly a god.  Our parents are above us, as is Joshua.  Willow's our protector, our knight, our…" chuckle, "our Special Guardian.  Buffy.  Buffy's one of us.  The reason she hasn't gone insane with the title of Princess, why she hasn't already killed me and every other god, is that she's the Goddess of Love.  She feels every single bit of emotion that humanity can feel.  Every one.  And she loves them, and us, for it.  I don't know how she does it."

          "When did this turn into about you?" Anya asked after another stretch of silence.

          Ripper gave her a roguish grin and only shrugged.  "Most things end up being about me in one way or another eventually."

          Anya and Ripper shared a few laughs over that statement, but it was very short lived.  They spent several more minutes in silence before Ripper decided that he had better ways of spending his time and turned to look Anya in the eye.  "So…  Is there anything you need right now?  Anything I can get for you?" he asked, almost afraid of the answers.

          Anya just shrugged.  "For right now, just make the same arrangement that Buffy made with me, that you'll show up whenever I shout your name or ever need you, OK?" Ripper nodded, giving her a respectful grin, because her voice sounded like she was ready to collapse at any minute from the emotional exhaustion that she was feeling.

          "See you later…luv…" Ripper chirped as he disappeared in the flash of blue cloud and light.

_*                 *                 *                 *_

          Out in the Magic Shop proper, Xander and Joshua were still discussing guests to have and not to have at the wedding, and ofcourse _where the wedding would be, but Joshua said that Buffy was handling that.  Spike had already left with Dawn, promising to spend the day with the "lil' bit" and Willow and the new Tara were by the main counter.  Willow was still trying to figure out how best to relate or even talk with her former lover, her daughter, but above all her friend, once again._

          "So, uh, what…what's it like?" Willow hesitantly asked Tara.

          "What do you mean?" Tara asked, knowing exactly what she meant.

          Willow smiled and nearly giggled.  "What's it like being a goddess?  I know, I know, I was with Buffy all yesterday, but she really wasn't that much a help in explaining how it felt.  She just kept saying 'You'll have to feel it for yourself to really understand it.'  So spill tranquil girl, what's it like?"

          "Tranquil girl?" Tara asked, confused by the term.

          Willow smiled brighter.  "It's Buffy's nickname for you.  She told it to me yesterday after I kept pestering her about what kind of goddess _you were…well I guess I should say __are now, huh?"_

          Tara did giggle as she remembered what Willow had reminded her of about her aunt.  "Yes, I remember now.  I never did find the reason that she continuously called me that vernacular day after day.  Yet after the first few centuries…I suppose that it grew on me and became a term of affection more than a silly euphemism."

          Willow just stared at Tara.  "Huh?" she grunted.

          Tara looked chastised for several moments before looking up and saying simply, "I do not mind if you call me Tranquil girl Willow.  Buffy calls me that because it is sort of a family name.  Though obviously, you have more intimate terms of affection for me."

          Willow turned actually redder than her hair.  "I…you…I…but…"  Finally Willow remembered that even though she may be a goddess, she still needed to breathe and forced herself to continue to do so.  When she had regained her composure she looked seriously at Tara.  "Well, I just thought calling you _'Lamb drop' in public would be kinda embarrassing.  Ya know?"_

          Tara blushed furiously at Willow's following mischievous grin.  "You would not dare!" Tara hissed.

          Willow just deepened her grin and shrugged almost casually.  "Oh I don't know.  Maybe I should tell them about the time that we got drunk and I called you that and you started singing "The song that never ends".  Then I joined in, and I think we finally passed out because the next thing that I remember is waking up with you in my arms."

          Tara's flush began to match Willow's hair as she lowered her eyes in remembrance of the act in her mortal life.  Finally she decided to just avoid the topic entirely by returning to what their conversation had started out on.  What it felt like to be a god.

          "Buffy was telling the truth Willow.  One cannot easily describe what it is to be one of the chosen of the heavens.  To each, their experience is unique, true, and unto themselves," Tara cryptically confessed.  "I myself feel the power that I truly hold at my fingertips, yet I also feel so many other things that no human can ever feel without knowing true peace.  I feel the turmoil in your heart over losing me as I once was.  I can feel the confusion and fear Anya has in her heart over the way things have turned out.  I sense the frustration of Joshua dealing with Xander, and at the same time the pure joy that Spike is feeling at being free from unwanted control.  The government chip," she explained at Willow's confused look.

          "Buffy, however, feels things far wider and infinitely more diverse than what I feel.  And true, she would feel more power and responsibility than I do because she is the Princess of the gods.  The truth Willow, is that none of us can tell you what _you will feel when you receive your powers once more, we can only tell you what it feels like to be __us with __our powers.  I am sorry."_

          Willow just shrugged again and smiled.  "Don't be.  Now…what's it like to be a god?"

          Tara just openly smiled and began to laugh as she looked at the girl that would be her mother come the day.  And she told Willow what it was like to be the Goddess of Peace.

_*                 *                 *                 *_

          Over at the table, Joshua was getting ready to either strangle Xander or blow him to smithereens.  So far, there were over forty names on the guest list, and they didn't even have a clue as to how much room they'd have in whatever sanctuary that Buffy still had yet to find for them, no mention of the hall where the reception would have to be held.

          "No man, I'm serious, why can't we have Cindy Crawford and Tyra Banks there?  Heidi Klum would be good too, but I don't speak German.  Well, not yet anyway…" Xander was saying.

          "Xander, do you have any idea what you're about to go through?" Joshua interrupted.

          Xander stopped his rant and genuinely looked at his older brother.  "In more ways than you know Joshua.  In more ways than you know.  But can't I at least humor some adolescent fantasies before I tie the knot?  Where do you think that phrase comes from anyway?  'Tie the knot'?  Willow thought it had something to do with this Wicca ritual called a 'hand fast', and from the description, it would kinda make sense…"

          "Xander!"

          "Uhh, yeah.  OK, family only.  Actually how about this, we leave out my dad and you give me Tyra Banks?  How about that?" Xander tried to compromise.

          "What?!" Joshua looked at him like he was crazy.

          Xander shrugged.  "We leave my dad at home, which I'm sure is where he'd rather be anyway, and we give his invitation to Tyra Banks instead.  Besides, she'd at least be nicer, not to mention sober."

          Joshua was now totally confused.

          He put the list and pen down, the invitations in the mail the moment the name was on the list.  Also, Tyra Banks, Cindy Crawford, Kathy Ireland, Heidi Klum, and Yasmine Bleeth.  And just above Tyra's name was David Hasslehoff.  The list disappeared, the invitations were all already out.

          "Xander…from the…way…that you describe your father, I, uh, I take it that you two don't get along to well?" Joshua hesitated in asking.  Xander just gave him a look that shouted "DUH!!"

          "Um, may-maybe I can help out in that regard.  That is if you're willing to talk about it?" Joshua offered.

          Xander suddenly looked down and Joshua knew immediately that he would rather _not talk about his father, but Joshua could tell when an issue needed to be covered.  Or else there may be consequences that nobody could have foreseen.  "Xander?"_

          Over by the counter, Tara stopped talking and looked straight at Xander.  She could feel the torment of his soul, and because he was her Uncle and a very close friend, she felt it all the clearer.  Her position as the Goddess of Peace demanded that she immediately do everything in her power to resolve the conflict of pain and fear in Xander's heart.

          "Tara?" Willow asked, concerned at how the blonde had just stopped and was now staring at her best friend.

          Tara just grabbed Willow by the wrist and almost dragged the redhead over to the table where the two men sat.  Tara instantly took the seat next to Xander, while Willow, confused at what was going on, just took the seat that Joshua offered beside him.

          "Xander…what is the problem?  I can feel your pain from some deep wound.  Please, allow me to help you," Tara near begged, while Xander and Willow looked at her as if she'd just stripped naked and offered to organize the groom's bachelor party.

          "Huh?" Xander finally got out past the lump in his throat.

          Joshua, seeing Xander's confusion over Tara's statement tried to explain.  "Xander," he started, "Tara is the Goddess of Peace.  Peace is…for lack of any better term, the lack of conflict.  When everything is just calm and, well…peaceful.  You get what I'm saying?"

          "Yeah, sure.  Totally.  I'm right there with you!" Xander enthusiastically responded, his eyes glazed over.  "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Joshua asked, deadpan.  "None whatsoever," Xander answered in an identical tone.

          Joshua took a deep breath and let it out as a heavy sigh.  "All right.  Tara's the Goddess of Peace.  Much the way that Buffy is the Goddess of Love, and Ripper the God of War.  With me so far?"

          Xander nodded, not yet fully understanding, but getting the references.  "Buffy's powers more or less fuel off Buffy's love.  And it can be any kind.  Physical love, familial love, sisterly love, parental, and so forth.  It also, in a small abstract way, feeds off of other's feelings of love.  So in order to be at her fullest, Buffy kind of wants, and has to ensure, that those around her feel love as well.  It's a kind of balance system, and more or less the reason the gods exist at all."

          "OK, let me see if I understand this," Xander said.  "Buffy's the Goddess of Love, and therefore, she needs everybody else to be in love so she can be a goddess?"

          Joshua could have rolled his eyes far enough to see his intestines.  "Not exactly.  Buffy, as a goddess, has to elicit certain…responses in the mortals around her.  Its what a god does.  Buffy tries to make people fall in love, or at the very least realize that they're in love, as much as she possibly can all the time.  Ripper tries to make people fight and make war, all the time.  Tara…"

          "Tries…to make people…feel……peaceful?…all the time?" Xander hesitatingly guessed.

          Joshua smiled brightly and the look of pride in his eyes gave Xander a sudden boost in confidence.  But he was still a bit confused.  "So…because I'm feeling…conflicted…Tara's trying to make me feel peaceful?"  Joshua just shrugged and added, "Well, try she wants to make you feel better.  And maybe conflicted isn't the right word.  Maybe, confused?  Worried maybe?"

          Xander's eyes immediately dove to the floor.  _Bingo, the Archangel thought to himself.  He settled a little more comfortably into his seat and gestured for Willow to do the same.  She just got a little more tense, wondering what this all could possibly be about._

          "It's your dad isn't it?" Joshua asked bluntly.

          It was all Xander could do just to not cringe.  Yet Tara seemed to sense the despair of dealing with his father, even the idea of it, brought to his mind.  She placed her hand on his shoulder, and Xander couldn't deny it, he did feel better, almost as though a cool aura of pure…well for lack of better terminology, peace was emanating from where she touched him on his shoulder.  It was as if it were a tangible thing that was pooling throughout his entire body.  Almost instantly, at Tara's touch alone, Xander was perfectly calm.

          Willow's brow creased in confusion as she saw the stress literally ooze out of her friend's body at her daughter's touch.  _'Huh, and I thought that only worked on me with Tara,' Willow thought at the gesture.  "Xander?" she asked aloud, questioning more at Joshua's statement rather than Tara's actions._

          He looked up, almost startled, but still way too calm for him to be genuinely so.  "Yeah Willow?" he said, sounding kinda strange.  Like he was drugged.  Now Willow was wondering about her daughter's actions.  "Are you all right?"

          Xander blinked a couple of times.  Then he was quiet, his eyes glazing over even more than they were to begin with.  Finally, he nodded.  "Yeah, I mean, I guess so.  I was feeling kinda stressed over having to deal with my Dad showing up at the wedding, drunk and ruining what is supposed to be the happiest day of my life and everything.  Now I'm not so worried about it anymore.  I want this to be perfect for Anya.  Gawd Will, I love her so much.  I would never do anything to hurt that woman.  I…I just want everything to be perfect and I know my Dad will do everything to either destroy it, or just plain make me feel bad by either insulting my wife, my life, or my knife."

          Willow and Joshua shared a confused look and asked in unison, "Your knife?"

          The dark-haired man just shrugged his shoulders.  "I needed something that rhymed with life and wife, and saying sword was a bit obvious, ya know?"

          Joshua just nodded, going "Uh huh."

          Willow resisted the urge to roll her eyes and mouth off at Xander for making bad jokes, but instead she focused on the feelings of sympathy and empathy for her longest best friend.  "Oh Xander, I…I had no idea that…"

          "That what Willow?" Xander interrupted, some of the drugginess in his voice fading.  "That my Dad put me down every single chance that he got?  That he always, and I mean _always came home drunk?  Sometimes, like when the tax season was bad, or his favorite football team lost while he was at the bar, or when it was just really bad did it ever develop into anything physical or could be called molesting.  He did…does hit Mom still, I'm sure of it.  Gawd I hate that guy."_

          Tara, as though burned removed her hand immediately from Xander's shoulder.  A scared, almost terrified look in her eyes.  Not of what she had seen, if anything, in Xander's mind, but _of Xander himself.  Only Joshua knew why._

          "You don't mean that Alexander!" Joshua exclaimed the second after Xander had said that.

          Xander, suddenly at a loss as all of his conflicting emotions came rushing back at him, leaving him a bit winded for a moment, looked up in temporary confusion before what he'd said came back to him.  Shaking his head to remove the lingering effects of Tara's "Peace Touch" on him, Xander looked the archangel in the eye and said, "You're right Joshua, I don't hate my father."

          Tara squinted her eyes in suspicion at Xander, Joshua noticed this, but waited for Xander to finish.  "But I come as close to it as humanly possible.  Aside from the reason that he's my father, that I've always loved him, wanted him to be proud of me, that even in my own deluded way looked up to him at _very few moments in my life, give me one single __good reason that I __shouldn't hate him Joshua."  Xander was near-shouting now, so obvious was his anger that anybody would accuse him for his feelings for a father that sooner wish that he'd never be born._

          Joshua just shrugged and looked down.  He knew as well as Xander that he couldn't provide Xander with any one good reason.  He looked up.  He could provide him with several obvious and _great reasons as to why Xander Harris didn't hate his father, Anthony Harris._

          "Well, one, you _don't hate him.  Despite everything that he's done and that has happened to you.  Then there's the fact that you know that you are better than him and you genuinely want him to be a better person, and above all a better father.  And you have caught glimpses, rare glimpses I'll admit, of the man he truly is, a man that you and any other man would admire."_

          Xander _did roll his eyes as he settled back into his seat into a rather lazy, slothful kind of pose.  As though he knew exactly what Joshua was saying, had heard it all before, and just wasn't listening anymore.  "You know Joshua," Xander started.  "I used to think the exact same things about him.  It never held.  He always did something the next day, or the next hour, or even the next minute to prove all of my hopes for him were dead before they even left the ground.  That man cares nothing for me, and I stopped caring for him a __long time ago."_

          Willow now understood the fear in Tara's eyes.  She had never heard her friend speak with such…_anger or…__venom before.  Not even about Angel, and everybody knew what Xander's opinion of the souled vampire was.  Willow unconsciously shrunk away from him as she saw the look in his eyes.  She couldn't help but shiver at the coldness that seemed to be ingrained there.  Then she saw the uncertainty flicker through his chocolate brown orbs, and she knew her friend wasn't completely gone.  Xander had the heart of an angel.  He could love everybody, even a man as undeserving as his father on this Earth._

          Willow leaned forward and just hugged her friend.  She gave no warning, said no words, she just hugged him.  Even Joshua was surprised by the action, but he smiled as he figured the reasons.  Tara just kept her gaze on Xander.  The fear had left when he started to speak his opinion of his father, to be replaced by a deep concern, which remained even as Willow embraced him.  What was surprising, was that Willow's hug seemed to have the same effect Tara's Touch had, at least outwardly it appeared so.

          "Alexander, that is not true.  I felt the pure love that you hold for your family.  All of your family.  I know what it is you fear Alexander.  Let me be one to assure you, even if you were not my Uncle Alexander, you would not succumb to that fear.  Anya, and many others, would help you pull through and succeed not only in life, but in spirit." Tara said.

          Willow released Xander as they turned to the (still) toga-clad blonde goddess and said, "Huh?" at the same moment.

          Joshua began chuckling, until he realized something.  "Hey, you called Anya, Anya!  How come you call her by the shortening of her name and you call the rest of us by our proper names, huh?"

          Tara looked confusedly at her uncle.  "I do not understand.  Anya is her name, is it not?"

          Joshua nodded.  "Yes it is, but her proper name is Anyanka…"

          Tara interrupted.  "No, Anyanka is the name of a vengeance demon.  Anya is the name of the mortal girl.  Yet if she wishes me to call her Anyanka, I will do so."

          Xander and Willow turned as one back to Joshua.  He met their gazes' head on and shook his head, holding the bridge of his nose between his fingertips.  "Trust me, you do _not want to know," he told them.  They chose to believe him and decided not to ask._

Author's Notes:  Sorry it took me so long to add this chapter, but at least you didn't have to wait six months (heh, heh)  But I kind of need some help now.  You see, originally I had the whole list of gods written out.  Now I've…kind of lost my notes.  But here are the positions that I **_have_** filled: Xander, Buffy, (Giles)Ripper, Cordelia, Tyra, Gunn, Tara, Crow, Willow, Oz, Amanda, Ellen, (Helen and Hellan stayed behind in Anton), Buffy's first, Spike, Darla, Alexandra, (Jessica Alba)Maxabl, Jennifer "Love" Hewitt, Liam, Xander's son, Cordelia's daughters, and Ray and Will her sons, and Tyra's four children.  Those I know.  I need help/suggestions on "who" can be the other gods.  Please keep in mind the "name" thing so either make the TV show apart of this universe, or make it an actor.  To see the names of the other gods, or what children there are, please read my first story "Buffy: The Love Goddess" Part Seven.  Thank you for your support and aid.  Review if you must, but for suggestions I (heh) suggest that you e-mail me directly.


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